Adrift
by Xyex
Summary: A simultaneous incident in the DBZ world and an AU XMen Evolution world causes a bit of disaster on both sides the dimensional barrier. Rating is a precaution, R&R please.
1. Rescue Mission

A/N: The DBZ characters are taken from about a month after Kid Buu was beaten. They are then sent to a world somewhat like that of X-men: Evolution (characters will be the same age for one) but not exactly the same (like Sentinels (the tall ones) are everywhere for one). The big differences will be obvious. The rest, who cares? I don't want to spoil anything later so I'll just say that not all of the story happens in that universe. You may also a few personality differences in some of the mutants, it's due to this alternate world they're in. Anyway, as always for me "speech", /Thought/ ~telepathy~ and this xxxxxx indicates a change to the X-men world and this zzzzzz means a shift to the DBZ world while this ****** is just a change of scene. *Sigh, I can't believe I'm starting a new story, though this should be somewhat short...*  
  
Chapter One ~ Rescue Mission  
  
Trunks kicked his feet in the cool water of the like rather bored. Goten, Gohan, Goku, and Videl were all still swimming but he felt... out of place. His father was going to come at first but... he wasn't exactly sure why he hadn't and wasn't to sure he wanted know... not with the look in his mom's face. He shivered just remembering that. Still, Piccolo had come and he didn't even know how to have fun.  
  
He looked up from his feet in time to see Goten get dunked by Videl. He was about to get up when a smell floated into his nose. The unmistakable smell of food, of lunch. Namely fish, chicken, beef, carrots, rice, and numerous other things. He glanced back and saw Hercule and Chi-Chi emerge from the capsule house each carrying stacks of food. Behind them came Krillin, and Eighteen, also with food, and then Marron and Bee. Lastly came Buu who had to squish his body to fit through the door. Trunks couldn't help but start to laugh as Buu made himself narrow and looked rather deformed.  
  
Plumping back out Buu looked at him like he was crazy for a second then made his face concave which caused bother Trunks and the now present Goten to bust up. Buu popped his face back out grinning before bending down to pet the yipping Bee and give him a slab of steak. Bee happily picked up the food and ran off to a nearby tree to eat. Meanwhile Chi-Chi, Videl, and Gohan set up the table quickly and everyone sat down to eat. Before they dug in Krillin cleared his throat and held up his glass. "First, a toast." he said. "To the return of peace and our normal lives... at least as normal as they ever get for us." he said with a quick glance at Buu and Eighteen.  
  
This enticed a round of chuckles first followed by cheers of agreement. They all settled down, except for the Sai-jins, and began to eat the pile of food before them. It didn't take long for the four Sai-jins to reduce the mountain of food to nothing with very little help from anyone else. Meal finished Goten and Trunks wondered off to play in the woods, Gohan went to talk to Piccolo, Goku went off to lay on the grass with Krillin and Marron. Chi-Chi, Videl, Hercule, and Eighteen cleared off the table while Buu went to go play with Bee.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
The sound of birds and other animals sounded through the thick forest. The sun never really did reach the forest floor and since it was still just rising seemed as though it were still night within the trees. Not that any of the forest animals really cared, nor did the people who called the underground compound here home. Buried beneath the trees and just over a mile below the surface resides what's come to be known as Compound X, home of the X-men.  
  
Professor Charles Xavier had the place secretly constructed as anti-mutant tensions built to unprecedented levels and it seemed war grew near. Shortly after it's completion the first wave of Sentinels began to appear in the major cities of the to handle any 'mutant terrorists' that may appear. A month later Magneto led a group of mutants on an assault against a Sentinel factory and ignited a world wide genocidal war meant to purge mutants from the Earth. Xavier quickly gathered all his students and retreated to the compound only an hour before their former home was destroyed by shower of missiles.  
  
It was from here, Compound X, that Xavier and his X-men fought to end the war. The X-men were currently gathered in the 'war room' discussing a small problem they had. "Look, we can't just leave her there so I say we break in and break her out." Wolverine demanded.  
  
"I understand the sentiment quiet well Logan." Charles said deep in thought. "But we can't launch an assault against Stronghold. It's to dangerous."  
  
"The professor's right." Storm said from where she sat. "Stronghold is to heavily guarded to attack head on. Magneto has tried several times to no avail, there's no reason to think our luck would be any better. Still, we must do something to rescue her."  
  
Charles nodded. "And indeed we will. Magneto contacted me early to request our aid..."  
  
Wolverine growled. "I still don't trust Magnet-head." he said disgustedly.  
  
"Noted." Charles replied with a glance toward the other man. "But we could use his help. It would seem we're not the only ones short an ally. A couple days ago Magneto's most recent headquarters was attacked by an army of Sentinels. Most got away from the attack but Spyke was captured." This got everyone's attention, especially Storm's. "I informed him of Shadowcat's capture and he agreed to aid us in her rescue if we help him."  
  
The room was silent for moment before someone finally said something. "So how do we do this?" Rouge asked.  
  
There was more silence for a second before Charles turned around and pointed a remote at a large screen. "Mystique managed to infiltrate Stronghold early this morning and get this schematic of the building out." he said as a 3-d model appeared on screen of a massive structure both inside and below the Statue of Liberty. "Getting inside shouldn't be to much of problem. Storm is to create a fog to conceal us while Boom Boom creates distractions around the perimeter."  
  
Wolverine snorted again. "I don't trust her either..." he grumbled rubbing the back of his neck. A month before she'd been one of their members but had decided to join Magneto and in the process jammed a number of her little explosives down his shirt. They hadn't actually hurt him that much but for some reason it stung for days. "I still think working with them is a bad idea, we're labile to be double-crossed."  
  
Charles shook his head. "He may not agree with our ideals, or be looking for a peaceful outcome to this war, but he is still on our side." Wolverine grunted but didn't say anything so Charles continued. "Meanwhile Kurt, you are to teleport inside Wolverine and Jean. This diagram has the exact distances so memorize it because you'll be going in blind." Kurt nodded, he didn't like teleporting if he couldn't see, especially with others, but he'd try it to save Shadowcat.  
  
"Good. Once inside Mystique will meet you, she'll be waiting here." A section of the map lit up. "She'll guide you through the compound, Logan, Jean, you'll need uniforms she's gotten out to blend it. Kurt, you're going to be the 'captive' they'll be leading to the cell's. Once there you'll get Shadowcat and Spyke. On the way back out, Logan, you'll go with Shadowcat and Mystique. Kurt, you'll get Jean and Spyke out of the building. If anything goes wrong try and keep a low profile and get out as quickly as possible. Understood?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Then let's get moving. Magneto is waiting for us in the old Morlock Tunnels."  
  
zzzzzz  
  
Piccolo floated near the lake meditating. He'd had this strange feeling all day, like something was off or wrong somewhere, he just couldn't find where. Even Dende said he felt something was off but he could find nothing wrong either. It was beginning to worry him.  
  
Goten dove into the water with Trunks a few feet behind. The two boys sped through the water for a moment before Goten came flying out, once more with Trunks right behind him. "Your to slow!" Goten called back to his friend doing a barrel roll.  
  
"We'll see who's slow Goten!" he cried going Super Sai-jin and quickly catching the other.  
  
"Hey, no fair!" Goten cried trying to pull free. Since Trunks wouldn't let go he quickly powered up and transformed using the backwash of energy to break lose. Then he powered down again. "You cheated!"  
  
"I did not!"  
  
"Did too!"  
  
"Nuh-uh!"  
  
"Uh-huh!"  
  
"Knock it off!" Piccolo called up. "I don't want to sit through another four hour argument between you two."  
  
Near-by Gohan laughed. "Yeah, I'm surprised Gotenks could ever make up his mind on what to do."  
  
Goten and Trunks both looked down at Gohan and Piccolo, then glanced at each other and grinned. Despite their constant arguments over stupid things they often had the same idea at the same time. Like now for instance. The two pint sized Sai-jins sped across to the other side of the lake, dropped to float just above the water, transformed, and sped toward Gohan and Piccolo with their arms outstretched generating a massive wave in front of them. Both intended targets saw it coming but only Piccolo managed to not get hit by putting up barrier.  
  
"Goten!" Gohan shouted drenched.  
  
"I think it looks good on you Gohan." Videl said walking up and messing up Goten's hair. "Besides, it serves you right for yelling it innocent little Goten." She said the last part with sarcastic tone and smirk.  
  
"Hey!" Goten called up before pushing her into the water. The day pretty much went on like this until the sun began to set and the air to cool. At this point everyone gathered inside the house to sit down for dinner.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Kurt looked around in the growing fog that made the dark night even darker. He had one hand on Jean's shoulder, the other on Logan's. The Professor told him his cue was the sound of Boom Boom's explosives going off. Needless to say, with this growing fog and a few hundred soldiers around he was a bit nervous about this little plan now. He didn't have much time to dwell on it though as he soon heard a few minor explosions from various directions. In a puff of smoke he and his to companion's vanished to reappear inside Stronghold.  
  
There was a woman in a captain's uniform standing in the hallway right before them. At first Kurt thought they'd been discovered already but then saw her eyes flash and realized it was Mystique. "About time." she said holding out a pair of handcuffs. They were quickly fastened to Kurt's wrists before Mystique handed Jean and Logan each a gun. "I am your escort, you are his guards, follow me."  
  
It didn't take long to reach the holding area and they met no resistance from anyone they passed in the halls. "Rather lax security." Logan said as the door closed behind them.  
  
"They believe this place is impenetrable." Mystique replied. "Getting in is the hardest part."  
  
The small group came to a stop in front of two tanks full of green liquid. Inside on tank floated Spyke, the other held Shadowcat. "Kitty..." Kurt said in shock. There were tubes and wires attached to almost every part of her body, the same was true for Spyke.  
  
"We're rather lucky." Mystique said examining the control panel. "They only hold prisoners here for a few days while they extract genetic samples." she said the last part with disgust. "We aren't sure what they're up to here but we know of hundreds of mutants who've gone through these tanks..."  
  
"Let's just get them out." Jean said.  
  
Mystique nodded and activated the drainage system. It only took a moment for the tanks to empty. Then Logan used his claws to break open the tanks. Jean levitated the two former captives down to the ground. It only took a few seconds for the two to wake up. "Where... Jean?" Kitty asked sitting up. "Logan, Kurt! I knew you guys would come."  
  
Logan smiled for a second before turning. "We have to go, now. Kurt, Jean, get Spyke outside. Mystique and I will get Kitty out." Everyone nodded as Spyke picked a few needles out of his armor. The group then split into two to make it easier.  
  
******  
  
Kurt peeked around the corner then waved Jean and Spyke forward. Cautiously they made their way down the hall to another doorway and looked outside again, and froze. "Not good." he said back to the them. The two took a look around the door and saw for them self. They're escape route was currently blocked by a couple guards.  
  
"No problem." Spyke said prepping a few spikes to launch.  
  
"No." Jean said putting a hand on his arm. "We're not killing anyone Evan." Spyke glared at her for a moment but she didn't turn away.  
  
"Fine. Then what do you suggest?"  
  
Jean turned and looked out at the two guards. She closed her eyes and focused. After only a moment they began to sway on their feet and then both suddenly toppled over. "There, I've put them to sleep." she said faintly. It was obvious she'd strained her self knocking both of them out at once. "Let's go." They ran quickly across the room and reached the opposite wall. Kurt grabbed both of them and teleported outside. When they reappeared they were only a few feet from Storm who was still keeping the fog up.  
  
******  
  
Kitty pulled Logan and Mystique through a wall as a guard rounded the corner. "We would have to go the heavily guarded way." she said poking her head through the wall to check if it was clear. "Let's go." The three re-emerged into the hall and continued on.   
  
Logan stopped suddenly and looked back. "I knew we couldn't trust her." he growled. Mystique was gone. "Kitty, just head to the end of the hall and go through the wall down there, it'll get you out. I'm going to find Mystique."  
  
"But..."  
  
"No buts, just do it." He demanded. Then he turned and followed Mystiques scent down another hall. After a few yards he found her in a small room taking something from a safe. "There you are."  
  
She rounded on him and he got a clear view of what she held. It was a medium sized device, about the size of basketball. It was smooth all around and looked like it was nothing more than a metal ball. By the way Mystique was holding it however, he knew it must be something important. "I'm coming." she said walking quickly past him and into the hall.  
  
The two made their way quickly down the hall and found Kitty still waiting there. "I thought I told you to get out?" he growled. She just shrugged. He grumbled something about kids being a pain but said nothing audible and they passed through the wall. They were greeted by an explosion a few feet away. Logan turned and readied his claws for battle when he saw the Sentinel nearing they position. Then he spotted the unconscious Mystique and the dropped metal thing. As Kurt suddenly popped in out of no where Logan quickly picked up the device. A second later they were back with the other X-Men. Then Kurt vanished as he took Mystique and Spyke to where Magneto waited. A moment later, after he returned, everyone boarded the Blackbird and began the trip back to Compound X.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: So, what do you think? I know not much happened in the Z universe but this is just the first chapter, most of this was build up for later chapters. Anyway, read and review please! 


	2. Rifts in Space

A/N: Don't worry Hybridone, I've thought of that problem and come up with a solution which will be theorized by Hank (Beast) and Bulma both. :)  
  
Chapter Two ~ Rifts in Space  
  
Bulma leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. Today had been... interesting. Vegeta had definitely changed since the battle against Buu. She wasn't sure what exactly had happened but he was acting, well, civil. Sighing she leaned back down to look at her latest project. The basketball sized sphere was intended to actually bend space so that she could send something from one point to another instantly. Like Goku did with his Instant Transmission, only this was going to be by connecting point a with point b. She had a good idea on how to do it but it wasn't coming together just yet... /Come on Bulma! You made a time machine in the other time-line, how hard can this be?/  
  
"Well." she said to herself picking up the round device. "I may as well give it another test run." She held it out and pressed her palm against its surface. "Activate." she ordered. The orb glowed lightly and floated a few yards away. /At least that part works. Now what coordinates should I set?/ She made a walk around the device and decided to send her test subject, a potted plant, out to the lake where the others where. If it made it then the tracking device would activate. Then she'd 'pop' in to say hi to everyone.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
The ground sealed up overhead as the Blackbird came to a rest. Wolverine held the sphere in his arms as he walked off the plane with the others. "So she didn't say what it was?" Charles asked following behind him.  
  
"No, but if she wanted..."  
  
"Indeed." Charles was about to say more but the warning sirens began to sound.   
  
Scott activated a nearby monitor and took a look outside. "This isn't good everyone, but how did they follow us?"  
  
"What is it Scott?" the Professor asked.  
  
"Sentinels, at least four dozen of them."  
  
"Then let's take care of them..." Logan said turning.  
  
"While you do that I'll prepare the compound for evacuation. If they found us once they can do it again. We'll have to move to another location, I'll check the reports and see which is the safest." Charles turned his hover chair toward a nearby door and exited while the X-Men took an elevator to the surface, the device still in Logan's arms. As they stepped out he placed it under a tree and drew his claws to ready for battle. The Sentinels began to descend as Storm summoned a thunder storm over the forest.  
  
zzzzzz  
  
Bulma looked at the computer monitor to check the coordinates. "No, that wont work. I need to place it on the ground, don't want it damaged." She lowed the elevation to match ground level then slid it north a few yards to place it under a tree, less chance of someone or something being there. Didn't want it to appear inside some poor forest animal. "There. Alright, system on-line." she ordered turning around. The glow around the sphere intensified.  
  
"And, sync coordinates." There was a flash. "Load transport program, engage graviton manipulator." There was a hum from within the sphere as the glow grew larger. Then the space around it began to shimmer and warp. "Excellent! It's working! Alright, boot trans-space positioner." A beep sounded. "Perfect! Alright, time to do the real test Bulma, this is it. Sync to location."  
  
******  
  
Piccolo's eyes snapped open. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. He looked up at the starry sky and watched in wonder as clouds built overhead and lighting flashed. /The Dragon? No, wait, that's not possible. Gohan has the four star ball here with him./ He looked around and saw Gohan, Goten, Videl, and Goku all come out of the house and look up at the sky. "Something's wrong." he stated mater-of-factly.  
  
Gohan nodded. "Any ideas?"  
  
Piccolo shook his head. "No, but Dende and I have been feeling something all day, but that feeling just intensified a second ago."  
  
"Oh cool!" Goten cried. "Look at that!"  
  
Everyone turned to look at what Goten was talking about. Beneath a nearby tree was a swirling... something. There were a few lights, some metal now and then, sometimes a planet, and the space around it was warping and bending. Then there was a loud crack in the sky and they all looked up to see something huge in a flash of lightning but it vanished almost instantly.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Storm sent another bolt of lightning down into the Sentinel. It jerked but kept walking toward her. Suddenly a stream of red light surged up and slammed into Sentinel tearing off its head. Storm waved down at Cyclops and moved on to the next machine.  
  
Wolverine ripped out a crap load of wires from the back of a Sentinel then dropped to the ground. He turned to look for another target and saw the sphere under the tree. Something was up with it. The space around it was shimmering and it was flashing multiple colors. For a second he thought he saw a green man but the image vanished before it was even completely there.  
  
"I don't like this..." he growled softly. Suddenly a bolt of lightning cut down into a Sentinel a few feet from the orb. As the electricity neared the ground it jumped free of the tall machine and into the orb.  
  
zzzzzz  
  
Bulma jumped back as sparks flew from her invention and bolts of energy struck out everywhere. She took cover behind a terminal as the orb began to flash brightly and the distortions to spread. Soon the entire room was shaking and shortly there after, the entire building. /This isn't good! It's over loading, but how? It's like there's a back feed but that's... impossible./  
  
******  
  
The entire forest was shaking and the overhead storm was growing stronger. The distortions from the spot beneath the tree where growing larger as well. "What is going on?" Goku wondered.  
  
Piccolo shook his head. "I don't know, but I don't like it."  
  
There was a sudden flash of light and everything seemed to freeze for a moment. Then there was an explosion that blasted a crater in the ground and knocked everyone backward.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Wolverine had moved away from the device incase it was dangerous but could still smell the building scent of sulfur. He saw Shadowcat running past the distortion, paused to look at it, and then it exploded. Logan covered his eyes with his arms to shield himself from the light. The force of the blast still knocked him over and gouged a crater in the ground. When the light died he didn't see Kitty, but there was a small kid with spiky black hair at his feet.  
  
zzzzzz  
  
Eighteen sat up and looked around. A large portion of the forest had been damaged and it looked like everyone had been blown over. Then she saw a young girl laying on the ground a few feet away. As Krillin got up she walked over to her and bent down. "She must have been close to the blast." Eighteen said seeing a few cuts. "But I've never seen her before."  
  
"She's not the only one." Krillin said spying a dark skinned woman on the ground a few yards into the woods. "Hey, where are Piccolo, Goku, and the boys?"  
  
"Gohan!" Chi-Chi called out. "Goten! Goku!"  
  
"Oh no, where's Videl!" Hercule cried looking around. "You don't think they were..."  
  
Krillin shook his head. "Piccolo, Goku, and Gohan would have protected the boys and Videl, they have to be here somewhe..." he was cut off by an explosion in the woods. Suddenly a large metal robot crashed to the ground smashing a number of the trees and almost landing on the dark skinned woman. Krillin went over to her carefully and moved her away from the woods. As he was laying her down the other girl came to and a man stepped out of the woods.  
  
"Who are you?" he demanded. Then he saw Kitty and Storm. "Shadowcat, Storm!" he cried running over.  
  
"Scott? Oh, my head... What happened?"  
  
"No clue." Scott said helping her up then go over to Storm. "I was just about to take out a Sentinel when there was some kind of explosion. The Sentinel flashed like a negative for a second then everything seemed fine."  
  
"What's a Sentinel?" Krillin asked.  
  
Scott looked up from Storm. "You're kidding, right?" he asked standing up. He looked over the small group of people and then saw the house. /What in the world? And where are the others?/ He looked up, Storm's storm and disappeared and he could see the stars. /We weren't fighting that long, how's it night all ready?/  
  
He started looking around. "Jean! Logan! Professor Xavier!" he called looking around. "Kurt! Hank! Rouge!"  
  
"Quit your yellin." another girl said dropping from a tree. "How did I end up in a tree anyway?" Rouge asked rubbing her head. "And where are the others at, I was with Jean a second ago."  
  
Krillin shook his head. "There's no one else here." he said also looking around.  
  
Chi-Chi paled. "You can't sense them? A-are they d-dead?"  
  
"I don't think so." Krillin replied not quite sure. "I don't remember his power disappearing, or the other's powers either." he stopped for a moment as a power grazed his mind. "Is that? Well, Buu's still here." he said as the large pink blob walked from the woods.  
  
"Where Bee?" he asked looking around.  
  
Rouge and Kitty glanced at each other. /Well, he's got to be a mutant.../ they thought at the same time.  
  
xxxxxx  
  
Logan checked to see if the kid still had a pulse. Before he even had his finger on the kid's neck he was starting to sit up. "Who are you?" he demanded glancing around for anyone else. That's when he noticed that the storm was fading.  
  
"I'm Goten." he said standing up and looking around. "Daddy! Gohan! Trunks!" he cried not seeing them. /What... wait did Gohan say? Concentrate, sense out his energy.../ He closed his eyes and looked around. /There's Gohan./  
  
There was a sudden burst of wind from within the trees and Goten's eyes snapped open. Logan looked up in wonder as a purple-orange stream of energy tore free of the woods carrying, and incinerating, a Sentinel's head in the process. Goten grinned. "Mr. Piccolo!" He took off running through the woods towards where he sensed Piccolo and Gohan.  
  
"Hey kid!" Logan called after. He stood there and grumbled a moment before chasing after him. He stopped dead as he came to a small clearing and saw the kid leap up into the arms of a tall green man in a purple outfit and a cape. /He looks like that image I saw earlier.../ Beside the green guy was a man with short spiky hair in a t-shirt and jeans.  
  
"There you guys are." a man said walking into the field. He had hair like the kid and was wearing some kind of orange outfit. Walking beside him was a little kid with purple hair and behind him was a young girl with black hair. "What is that thing?" he asked seeing the demolished Sentinel.  
  
"No clue." Piccolo replied eyeing it up. Then he saw Logan. /He's not really that powerful... wait a second.../ "Can you guys sense that?" he asked looking over to Goku and Gohan.  
  
"What?" Goku asked scratching the back of his head.  
  
"Our powers." Piccolo replied mater-of-factly. "Compare your power to him." he nodded toward Logan.  
  
"Hey!" Goku cried in shock. "That's weird! I haven't had a power this low since I was kid!"  
  
Logan frowned at the people before him. /The green guy has to be a mutant... but who are these people and where'd they come from?/ "Who are you guys?" he asked. However, any response they may have been about to make was cut off as a large foot slammed into the ground behind them. "A Sentinel! Get down!" he shouted as it prepared to blast them.  
  
Piccolo raised his arm and blasted a stream of orange-purple energy into the upper half completely incinerating in a few seconds. Logan just watched in shock. /He's one powerful mutant.../  
  
"Seems you didn't lose that much power." Gohan said crossing his arms. "Not like us."  
  
Piccolo shook his head. It was true, he'd not lost nearly as much power as the others. They all felt like... well, like normal people, almost. They were all a bit stronger than Hercule but that was about it. Piccolo, on the other hand, was as powerful as he'd been when he'd first fought Goku at 23rd Budokai. The only power that hadn't changed was Videl's. They were still wondering about this when a blue guy suddenly appeared between them and Logan.  
  
"Logan, there you are, we've got to go. Now." Kurt said. Logan nodded toward the others and Kurt turned to look. "Who are they?"  
  
"Oh, I'm Goku!" he called over waving.  
  
Kurt just looked at him for a moment before saying anything. "It's not safe here now, there's still a dozen Sentinels wondering around out there and the radar's picked even more on the way. Come with us." Logan grunted while they all looked at each other.   
  
Suddenly a yipping dog came running up to the Goten. "Bee!" he cheered bending down to pet him.  
  
"I think we should go with these guys." Videl said looking over at the large robot. "Maybe we can figure out what's going on that way." Gohan nodded and their group followed Logan and Kurt from the woods. At the lake's edge sat a large plane on an up tilted slab of metal that hadn't been their earlier. As they were getting into the plane Piccolo noticed that the sun was just setting which was another thing that made this place weird, the sun had already set an hour ago.  
  
zzzzzz  
  
Bulma poked he head around the terminal as the lights and sounds died off. The sphere floated there for only a moment before falling to the ground smoking and then falling apart. "Aww man." she moaned walking over to it. The ground was scorched and a small hole had been carved in the cement floor. "This is going to take weeks to rebuild..."  
  
"Bulma!" Vegeta's voice cried down from above with some concern.  
  
"I'm okay Vegeta! Just another malfunction!" She frowned at it for a second, then she saw the plant. Only it wasn't just the plant was missing. In it's place sat a sphere almost identical to what she'd made. /What the hell? Oh, no, the others!/ "Vegeta! Vegeta!" she cried.  
  
A second later he was standing at the base of the steps. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Maybe nothing, but I was transmitting to the lake when the malfunction occurred... I'm worried about Trunks and the others..."  
  
Vegeta stood silent for a moment... "What the hell? I can only sense Buu and Krillin..." He saw the look of fear on Bulma's face. "Don't worry, I'll go out and take a look." he said turning around. A moment later a streak of light was flying away from Capsule Corp.  
  
Meanwhile, one of the yards outside the building the form of a man slowly stood up. He adjusted the black uniform he wore and glanced around. /What is this? Where am I?/ He walked up out of the crater he was in and looked around him. "This city is so clean, not like those I've seen." he looked around again trying to pick up a signal for a moment. Then he got several readings from behind him. He went that way and found another crater, inside this one stood several eight foot tall machines, the new model Sentinels. "Scout the area, find out what's going on, I'm going to have a look around this city." The eyes of the machines lit up and they floated into the air before blasting off in different directions.  
  
The man walked out into the street and looked around again. "So clean here." Then he saw an air car go by overhead. "Perhaps that distortion was a temporal rip? If so then this must be the future." he smiled lightly. "A future without Mutants." His small smile grew larger as he made his way down the streets of the city. He eventually came to a video store where I sign caught his attention. "Cell Games video here, originally aired footage and re-enactment." he read. What had caught his attention was the image of Cell on the cover underfoot of a fairly muscular man. He smiled again. "Cell must have been the mutant leader, or the last of their kind... Perhaps I should get a copy of this video." 


	3. Introductions

A/N: You'll notice an original mutant (Siren) who will appear this chapter and be in the story throughout. Just thought I'd let you know so you weren't wondering who I was talking about :)  
  
Chapter Three - Introductions  
  
Piccolo, Goku, Gohan, Goten (who had Bee in his lap), Trunks, and Videl all sat on one side of the blackbird with the remaining X-men on the other. Charles had grazed over their minds finding nothing dangerous there, save for Piccolo's mind which was unreadable. The Professor sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Now that we are away from the Sentinel's proper introductions are in order. Maybe then we'll be able to understand what happened.  
  
"I am Professor Charles Xavier, leader of the X-men. This is Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Jean, Siren, and our pilot is Hank McCoy." Logan only grunted at his name while the others waved. "And who are you?"  
  
"I'm Goku, these are my sons Gohan and Goten. This is Piccolo, Videl, and that's Trunks." Goku looked at the others for a second before finally deciding to ask a question that had been bugging him since they got on the plane. "You said you guys were mutants.... what's a mutant?"  
  
Kurt looked at him like he was crazy but it was the professor who explained. "Some time ago, we aren't sure how long ago exactly, the Human race divided into two categories. Your average person, and Mutants. Mutants are people born with what's known as the X-gene. It gives them powers beyond that of normal people. Wolverine has an extremely fast healing rate. Kurt, beyond his physical appearance, is also able to teleport. Jean is telekinetic, as am I, we're also telepathic..."  
  
Before he could finish the girl named Siren interrupted. She was the only person Rouge got along with completely since they were so much alike. They even tended to dress alike a lot. "And my powers are based around the nature of sound which gives me more variety to what I can do."  
  
"Cool!" Goten cried.  
  
Trunks turned and glared at his friend. "You're strange Goten. Everything we all can do and you think what they can do is cool?"  
  
"Well I don't know about you Trunks but I can't read minds or control sound."  
  
Trunks rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if you can control your brain." he said under his breath.  
  
Wolverine grunted and leaned forward. "So what about you guys? What the green guy did back there isn't exactly normal. Neither is his appearance."  
  
Goku just grinned. "We're aliens." he said simply.  
  
Gohan slapped his hand to his head. "It's more complicated than that." he said with a sigh, "and we're not all aliens. Videl here is Human while the boys and I are only half Sai-jin. Piccolo's a Namekian." He looked around. "I still can't figure out what's going on... that distortion must have been some kind of tear or something..."  
  
"Between dimensions most likely." came Beasts voice from the front. "Pardon my interruption..." he stepped through the doorway leaving the plane on auto pilot. "But I couldn't help but overhear. From what you've said it would seem something caused you to be pulled from your own dimension and into ours. Presumably the same thing happened to our missing members."  
  
Charles nodded. "That does make sense Hank."  
  
"But what about our power?" Goku asked. "We're a lot weaker here than we were back in our dimension."  
  
"Simple physics." replied Hank. "The laws of nature are not absolute from one dimension to the next or it wouldn't be possible for them to exist at all. The physics here must be the cause. Most likely Scott and the others are experiencing a change to their powers as well."  
  
"That's all fascinating and everything." Videl said meekly. "But how do we get home?"  
  
zzzzzz  
  
Vegeta pulled to a stop over the camping grounds Goku and the others had elected to use. He could see the crater and could still sense only Krillin and Buu as well as a number of other lower powers. He dropped down into the grouped mass of people. "What happened? What's going on?" he asked looking over at the unknown people with the others. Chi-Chi was slumped down on the ground crying while Buu and Hercule were trying to help her. The others seemed to be talking about something.  
  
"We're not sure yet Vegeta." Krillin said. "There was this flash of light and an explosion and then... this."  
  
"This what?"  
  
"Us." said Scott. "I'm Scott Summers, this is Kitty, Storm, and Rogue. I'm not really sure what happened either. One second we're fighting Sentinels." he pointed back to the demolished machine. "The next, we're here. It looks like the same place but... it's not..."  
  
"What about Trunks, and Kakkarotto?"  
  
"Vanished." Krillin said which made Chi-Chi cry more. "Them, Goten, Gohan, Piccolo, and Videl."  
  
"Bulma will probably have an idea what's going on. It was her contraption that did this apparently. Come on, let's head back to Capsule Corp. Maybe she can undo it."  
  
******  
  
Bulma had given their new 'guests' a tour of the Capsule Corp. Compound while she had them explain what had happened. As the tour finished she turned to them. "I think some kind of tear opened... possibly between dimensions. Most likely actually. That would explain the second transporter. You were shifted from one point in your universe to the same point in ours."  
  
"So what's your world like?" Kitty asked looking out the window. "This place is amazing and it seems so peaceful out there. Not like back home."  
  
"It is, now." Krillin replied. "But it was completely destroyed about a month ago, the entire planet was nothing but rubble."  
  
"How?" Strom asked. "If the planet was destroyed then how is it here now?"  
  
"The Dragonballs." Bulma replied matter-of-factly. "My husband, Vegeta, used Dragonballs on Planet Namek to restore the Earth and everyone killed by Majin Buu."  
  
Scott glanced over at the pink creature they called Buu. "Him?"  
  
Krillin scratched the back of his head, a habit he'd picked up from Goku. "Well, yes and no. It's rather complicated. It started off as him, then it wasn't. He's the good half of the one that blew up the planet. And I tell ya, with Goku missing I'm glad he's around."  
  
Bulma was just about to show the four X-men to their rooms when one of her employee's came running up. "Ms. Briefs! Something happened outside..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm not sure but there's these two big holes in the ground outside and there's this metal, like a floor, at the bottom of the both."  
  
Bulma scrunched up her face as she and the others all went outside to take a look. Sure enough, in one of the large grassy areas there were two large craters. In the bottom of each was a metal floor and on the one was part of a symbol. Bulma turned as she heard something from one of her guests, the one called Storm. "Dear God... that symbol."  
  
"What is it?" Bulma asked.  
  
"Your compound... it must be in the same location as Stronghold..."  
  
"Stronghold?" Bulma asked.  
  
"A military compound." explained Storm. "And the headquarters of our worst enemy, the head sentinel Bastion." She made her way into the crater and looked around. She knew the symbol rested only one place within Stronghold. Inside Bastion's command room. "It's possible he was pulled here as well. Something must have been in order to make these craters."  
  
"Then we have to search the city." Scott said. "We definitely can't leave Bastion wondering around here."  
  
"Agreed." Storm replied looking around. "I'll take to the air and have a look around."  
  
"I'll come with you." Krillin said. "I know the city pretty well." Storm nodded and the two lifted into the air and took off.  
  
Scott turned to Kitty and Rouge. "I want you two to do a ground search, take a look around the area for anything. I'll make a search of the city from the ground."  
  
"I'll help." 18 said stepping forward. Scott nodded and they all split up. Bulma waited a moment before turning around to head back inside. As she did she found Vegeta and Buu sitting by the front door as if on guard duty. Bulma smiled and shook her head as she thought about how much Vegeta had changed.  
  
********  
  
A/N: Yes, I know, I should be working on War for the Universe. That story is going to drive me insane. No matter how I try and write the current chapter it always comes off as crappy to me. *Sigh* Well, they do say you're your own worst critic but still... But I PROMISE the next time I update I'll add a new chapter to War for the Universe. 


	4. A New Kind of Threat

A/N: This chapter is a perfect example of what's different in the X-men universe compared to the norm. You should find it... interesting. And would you look at this, a new chapter for Adrift, Legends - Book I, AND War for the Universe all in the same day.  
  
Chapter Four - A New Kind of Threat  
  
Bastion looked about the people around him still quite fascinated. He'd even seen a few animals walking upright, wearing clothes, and talking. At first he'd thought they were Mutants but his scanners said otherwise. The pigs were pigs, the dogs were dogs, and the humans were humans. Very strange.  
  
He'd attempted to acquire the video at the store a few moments ago but discovered they used something called Zenni, of which he had none. It didn't matter in the end, he merely used his system scanners to read the data off the tape. He'd found it extremely informative and seriously doubt the validity of this 'Hercule's' victory over Cell. No, he had his own idea now. The Mutants had fought each other over something or other and, since Cell was gone, the others had won.  
  
Bastion had come to a stop at an intersection as he waited for the walk signal. That's when his scanners detected a Mutant nearing him, from the air. He turned in that direction and his eyes widened at the sight of Ororo Monroe flying alongside someone whom his scanners said was Human. "This is a perfect opportunity." he said gazing at her. "I don't know how she got here too but taking her out will put a nice dent in the Mutant forces.  
  
With a smirk twin beams of energy burst from his eyes and sped into the air where they slammed into Storm knocking her from the sky. Krillin dove and caught her and then quickly landed. As his feet touched a roof Storm climbed from his arms and stood, holding her injured right arm. "I think it's safe to assume we've found him." she said pressing a small button Krillin hadn't even seen before. "Cyclops, Rogue, Kitty, we've found Bastion..." she turned to Krillin. "Where are we?"  
  
"The corner of 125 Ave. and 140 St."  
  
Storm nodded and relayed the information. A moment later they responded that they were on their way. In the meantime Storm and Krillin floated down off the building and landed on the street. Most of the people had scattered when Bastion had fired the eyebeams but some where still around. "Very strange." Bastion said looking at Krillin. "My scanners say you're not a Mutant... and yet you can fly?"  
  
"Lot's of training." Krillin said sliding into a combat position. /Geez, figures we'd find him. Damn, I can't sense anything. Should have figured, they said he was a robot./ He tightened his position as Bastion started walking toward him, he could sense the others nearing. /Got no other choice, hope this isn't a stupid move!/ Krillin launched in through the air and pulled back his fist. He never reached Bastion, his arm came out of no where and back-handed him away.  
  
Krillin smashed through a building before regaining his control. "Man, that thing is strong! And way to fast for me... but I have to stall long enough for the others to get her. Alright, here goes! Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...... Meeeeeeeeeeeeeee..... Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....... Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..... HAAAAAAAAAAA!"  
  
Bastion turned as he heard Krillin's voice calling out and saw the blue glow. The machine stood there and watched as his scanners tried to process the data and get some kind of information on what was happening. Suddenly the wave of energy tore free of the building and through the air straight for him. The blast slammed into him and kept on going. Smiling Krillin let up expecting to have at least damaged him some, he'd not even blocked. However Bastion remained un-harmed. "What!"  
  
Krillin wasn't the only one in shock. Storm was staring at the machine in disbelief as well. And even Bastion was looking down at his body in wonder. Something was wrong here. The data he'd gathered on that attack just before it hit him said he should be scrap metal by now. And yet, here he stood, still in perfect condition. Yet another strange matter he needed to figure out.  
  
As he returned his gaze to Storm his scanners picked up more Mutants. Sure enough, a moment later, Kitty, Rogue, and Scott had arrived. 18 landed beside Krillin to make sure he was okay. Bastion frowned. "And how'd you all get here?" he asked looking them over.  
  
"Same as you." Storm said. "A device malfunctioned, pulled us through into another dimension."  
  
/A different Universe?/ Bastion wondered. /So it's not the future... and in this Universe there are no Mutants, only Humans that can fly and animals that can talk. Very odd indeed./ He turned toward Krillin and realized his scanners weren't reading anything from the woman beside the short man. He adjust them quickly to scan different fields and smiled. "Ah, so you're a Cyborg young lady? This world keeps getting more and more interesting."  
  
Krillin's eyes went wide as he felt a sudden and massive build-up of power. He turned and looked toward the source in time to see red energy explode forth from Cyclops's visor. The optic blast tore forward and slammed into Bastion with about as much effect as Krillin's Kamehameha had. At least, to Bastion. The force of the beam had torn up the road and shattered the windows.  
  
"What the..." Scott started.  
  
"Man, that blast!" Krillin cried. "That could have ripped Frieza in half!" None of the X-men knew what Krillin was talking about but the short man was looking at Bastion quite worried now. /Goku... we could use your help right about now.../  
  
Suddenly 18 was launching through the air at Bastion. The machine held his ground as he watched her come expecting her to have as little effect as the others. However, her fist connected with a loud crack to his face that knocked him surging backward. She charged in to hit him again but he raised his arms to block. As Bastion fought with her his mechanical mind worked to unravel the mysteries he'd encountered during the battle. /Scott's optic blast held impossible power... and yet I survived without a scratch./  
  
Suddenly he was caught off guard as Rouge's fist smashed into his face. Krillin's eyes widened again as Bastion was sent spinning by the blow. /I felt that power spike... just before she hit him... how is it possible! She's.../ he shook his head.  
  
Suddenly Bastion righted himself and stood slowly while smirking. "And now this ends." he said. "Prime Sentinels, activate the nullification field." The X-men all took a step back and looked around them in worry. Scott raised his hand to fire another optic blast and as he did a purple glow filled the sky about them. The stream of red energy started forward but then fizzled out into nothing. "Even in this universe that boosts our powers to impossible heights you are still Mutants and are still governed by the laws of our world. With this field up you are defenseless, it is time for you to die Mutants."  
  
18 thrust her arms forward and fired a massive stream of energy that slammed into Bastion and sent him sailing down the street. Apparently the field only affected the Mutants. She smiled as Bastion pulled himself out of the road. Just as the machine reached them again, looking none to happy, Buu and Vegeta descended to the street level. As they touched the ground Buu looked at his hands. "Buu power go bye-bye." he said.  
  
Vegeta gave him glance and then his eyes widened in shock. The field wasn't affecting Krillin but both he and Buu were now several times weaker than they should be. He growled and in a flash transformed to the second level. He growled again. "Damn, I'm stronger than this as at the first level, what's going on?"  
  
"The nullification field must be affecting you as well." Storm said from where she sat. Kitty and Scott were tending to her injured arm while they were un-able to fight.  
  
"Oh, that's perfect." Vegeta said frowning. He glanced at Buu then over to 18. Both nodded and the three launched in at Bastion together.  
  
xxxxxxxx  
  
"You let him get away!" a large man roared turning to look at the others behind him. There were three people in robotic suits of armor and one man that was made entirely of metal. That didn't last long though as Colossus soon reverted to his flesh state and left the area. Juggernaut grunted. Piotr didn't talk much, of course, that was because of the control collar.  
  
One of the men in the robotic armor turned toward him. "Relax Cain, we may have lost the transporters signal but we did get a tracer onto their plane. We can still track them."  
  
"We'd better!" Juggernaut cried walking away from them. "I should have known better than to work with S.H.I.E.L.D.!"  
  
As they watched him go one of the armored people turned. "He's going to be a problem. I wish he was a Mutant so we could just collar him." he grumbled.  
  
"Relax. He's hot headed but he wants Xavier, he'll work with us." said another. The three walked from the area to where a large vehicle sat waiting for them. Standing outside the vehicle was a man in red, white, and blue spandex. "How's the hunt going for the Morlocks? Caliban would make our job so much easier."  
  
The man in spandex shook his head. "The Morlocks are better at hiding than rats. If Fury hadn't been so anxious to destroy Xavier's mansion we'd at least have Cerebro."  
  
One of the armored men laughed. "Like anyone's going to say anything to him. Even you don't like talking to him Captain." The man in spandex merely nodded and re-boarded the vehicle. A moment later the assault forces began pulling out.  
  
********  
  
Goku and the others climbed out of the blackbird and looked around. They were now inside a mountain in some place called Alaska, not the Z warriors had ever heard of it. They gazed around at the large hanger they were in and all the people milling about. "So, everyone here is a Mutant?" Gohan asked.  
  
Kurt nodded. "Most of them. There are a number of Humans who are on our side though. Friends and family mostly, but there are those who see this war as a repeat of history too."  
  
"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked. He found it hard to believe a world would constantly be trying to destroy itself. Their world was fairly peaceful, until the next 'super villain' came along at least.  
  
Jean sighed as she walked up beside them. "It's part of our history really, wars like this I mean. Sometime ago America fought itself over whether there was a different between black people and white people. Around sixty years ago a guy in another country tried to take over the world, and kill everyone of a certain religion." She shook her head. "Hate seems to simply pass from generation to the next, always changing focal points as it does."  
  
Kurt nodded. "Yeah. We have a lot of allies who were affected by things like that. The man heading this compound for example, he's the grandson of a holocaust survivor."  
  
"And then..." Siren said walking up. "There's people like Magneto. He was in one of the concentration camps during the second World War. It's instilled the same hate into him for Humans that they have for him. Being persecuted twice just for who you are..."  
  
"So who's Magneto?" Gohan asked.  
  
Jean was the one to answer, "Head of the Brotherhood. They're another group of Mutants, ones who are fighting the war not for peace but to exterminate Humans. There's really only three factions to either side. The Brotherhood is the violent faction for the Mutants, we're the ones seeking peace, and the Morlocks are the ones who are just trying to stay alive.  
  
"For the Humans... They have S.H.I.E.L.D., headed up by Nick Fury, Captain America, and, to a lesser extent, Bastion. Then there's Core, they're our Human counter-parts. And I guess you could consider the average Human civilian their Morlock counter-part." The Z Warriors all glanced at each other. It was hard for all of them to believe a world could be in such turmoil.  
  
It was then that Professor Xavier pulled up beside them. "It would seem my suspicions were right." he said. "Hank found a tracer on the Blackbird. The signal jammers would have started blocking the signal about ten miles out but now our pursuers have an idea of our location. It will only be a matter of time before Sentinels arrive here and begin a search for us." 


	5. Retreat! Attack!

A/N: Well, FF net as changed what's stripped from the files so now -this- is telepathy and ---------- will be used for scene breaks. xxxxxxxx and zzzzzzzz will still be used to denote shifts to the X-men and Z universes respectively.  
  
Chapter Five - Retreat! Attack!  
  
Bastion caught 18's fist with one hand, ducked under Vegeta's kick, and blocked Buu's punch. With a jerk of his arm he flipped 18 over his head and across the street into a building. With the same motion he kicked Vegeta in the stomach doubling him over and then head butted Buu. He raised his right arm, the palm split open to reveal a small barrel. There was a flash of light from within and a softball sized stream of energy surged forward and through Buu.  
  
The pink creature looked down at the injury and sealed it up with a smile. Bastion cocked an eyebrow but didn't get the chance to do anything as 18's foot came in and smashed into the back of his head knocking him forward. Vegeta came charging up before the machine could recover and smashed a fist into his face knocking him back. Buu came down from above and slammed him down into the ground.  
  
Bastion stood up slowly, frowning. 18 was to his right, Vegeta on his left, and Buu before him. "I don't know who or what you are..." he said the last part with a glance at Buu and Vegeta. "But your interference in my mission is unacceptable. The Mutants must die in order to keep the Human race pure."  
  
"Unacceptable my ass." Vegeta said smirking. "I never got the chance to turn the other Androids into scrap metal, this is going to be fun."  
  
18 gave him a wry smirk of her own before looking back to Bastion. "Your creators are as bad Gero, worse even. To bad their not from around here, but I guess ripping you apart will have to do."  
  
From either side Vegeta and 18 thrust out their arms and fired streams of golden energy. Bastion raised his arms toward each attack and caught them both with some difficulty. Buu charged in at him again from the front and Bastion ducked, releasing his grip on the energy streams. Buu passed overhead and was hit with the blasts of energy. When the explosion cleared Bastion smiled, there was no sign of the pink blob. But a moment later a pink wad appeared on the ground and began to grow larger. A second later he was fully reformed.  
  
Like Bastion, the X-men couldn't believe their eyes as Buu smiled at the machine for a moment. "Buu still here! Buu still here!" he cried happily. Even Vegeta couldn't help but smile at the look on Bastion's face. He imagined the same look had been on his face the first time he'd fought Buu.  
  
Bastion's mechanical eyes looked over his opponents, his scanners working out the details of their natures and powers. So far, from what he'd detected, the spiky head guy seemed the strongest and the girl the weakest. He'd eliminate the girl first since the field didn't seem to work on her, then take care of the other guy. Then he'd figure out how to kill that pink thing.  
  
He shifted his footing waiting for the next attack. Sure enough, a moment later, Vegeta launched in at him. Bastion shifted to the right around the punch and then grabbed his arm with one hand. With the other arm he smashed his elbow into Vegeta's face knocking him back a bit and jerking his arm. As Vegeta went to attack again Bastion buried his knee in his gut, released his arm, and then smashed his fist into the Sai-jin prince's face knocking him down the street so far he broke free of the field.  
  
Bastion turned quickly and blocked Buu's punch before kicking him in the stomach and through several buildings that subsequently collapsed. The machine then turned toward 18 and ran forward slamming his fist into her stomach and lifting her off the ground as she wrapped around his fist. Her eyes bulged in pain and shock at the blow. Before she could recover his arm moved back and then shot out smashing into her face. He jumped forward as fast as he could and kicked her down into the street.  
  
Landing at her head he pointed his arm down, palm splitting open again, and energy charged inside his arm. As 18's eyes opened she stared at the charging attack and new from the battle that it would be enough to kill her. That's when Krillin's cry rang out. "Destructo Disk!" She looked to the left as the energy disk sped in toward them. Bastion only gave it a brief glance before dismissing it as any kind of threat. That is, until it sliced clean through his outstretched arm at the elbow.  
  
Sparks rained down from the severed and exposed wires as he stared at his arm in disbelief. He raised his other arm opening the palm and fired a quick shot at Krillin. Just before it hit the short man Buu suddenly appeared before him stopping it. Bastion's scanners picked up Vegeta nearing again as well and quickly realized the odds were now against him with only one arm. /I must retreat, for now. I'll hack into any systems I can find and see if I can track down this... Dr. Gero. If he created the Cyborg girl, and presumably that Cell creature, he may be able to repair me./  
  
With that thought Bastion turned down the street and ran into a nearby building. As Vegeta returned to the battle the nullification field vanished into nothing and his and Buu's powers returned to their full strength. "Where'd he go?" Vegeta questioned picking up the arm and glancing at it. /Bulma may be able to figure something out from this./  
  
"Took off, into a building." Storm said.  
  
"No one followed him?" he asked. Getting no response he turned to Krillin and raised the arm. "Aimed kind of low don't you think?" he asked cocking an eyebrow.  
  
"Er... yeah, I wasn't exactly thinking clearly......"  
  
Vegeta smirked and shook his head. "I saw what he was about to do. Perfectly understandable reaction." Krillin just stared at the Sai-jin in shock for a moment. He still wasn't used to this new Vegeta. "Bulma might be able to get something from this thing at least. Since we have no way to track Bastion we'll have to wait for him to surface again."  
  
He scrunched his face up in thought for a moment. "But there may be something else we can do after all." he said at last. "Come on, let's head back to Capsule Corp."  
  
xxxxxxxx  
  
A large structure moved through the air, a giant flying fortress. One of only three in the world. Hundreds of people were running about frantically as they prepped the search and assault forces. They'd lost the tracker signal on the Mutant's jet about forty minutes ago but a geographical map of the landscape and an overlay of how a jamming signal would work in the terrain had narrowed down about square mile of search area. That was assuming the jamming device was located at the destination.  
  
Juggernaut sat inside one of the small transport shuttles. The only other's in the small craft were Captain America and Colossus, neither of whom did much talking, not that Cain really minded the silence. He felt the sudden jerk of the ship meaning it was being positioned for launch. A moment later the large man could see through the cockpit of the shuttle and down to the frozen landscape below, and the skies about them. The area was dotted with the towering behemoth Sentinels. Furry had even sent a handful of the new Prime Sentinels into their ranks.  
  
Use of the new sentinels would have to be restricted or it would decrease the combat effectiveness of the enslaved Mutants that were under their control. Still, the Prime Sentinels ability to nullify a Mutants powers would no doubt be of great aid in the coming battle. He knew about the existence of the Alaskan base. Everyone knew of the Alaskan base through the word of mouth. Word that came from those who were captured and taken to Strong hold.  
  
The Alaskan base was one of Xavier's largest compounds full of Humans and Mutant's both and training grounds for most of the students of Xavier's form school. Furry wasn't taking the coming encounter lightly. Prime Sentinels, Sentinels, Armored Soldiers, Captain America, Enslaved Mutants, and something he called 'Mutant Zero'. One of the two research projects underway within Stronghold. There was a jolt to the ship as it launched forward and their where on their way down to the surface.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"They're here." Xavier said looking down at the gathered people below him. Humans, Mutants, and now their new found allies from the other universe filled the large hanger from front to back and wall to wall. /Most of them are still children./ Xavier thought shaking his head. "We must keep the location of this base secret, there are innocent people here who have no way of fighting back against our attackers." He became silent again as his gaze passed over them. /How many of them wont come back from this?/  
  
Xavier felt a hand rest on his shoulder and glanced behind him to find Hank. With a nod the blue furred Mutant managed to steady the other's resolve. He turned to look back out over the crowd. "Protect those you can, those you care about, be they Mutant or Human!" He called out beginning what had become the mantra of the X-men. As he continued those below him as well as Hank and Wolverine who stood behind him joined in. "Peace, freedom, future! These are not dreams but possibilities! We are the future citizens of the world and we will defend our rights to be so!"  
  
Goku and Piccolo couldn't help but smile as they looked across the gathered people. Such fire and spirit in them. Both vowed to themselves to make sure that each and every single one of them survived. The mantra complete the hangar doors and other exist opened allowing the large force to leave the warmth of the base and emerge in the cold harshness of the bitter Alaskan winds.  
  
Xavier had divided the X-Force, as the Alaskan 'soldiers' were called, into several groups. Group one was lead by Jean and Videl, the Human girl insisting to aid them. Group two was headed up by Wolverine and Piccolo, a duo that Xavier felt would work well together. Siren and the two young boys Goten and Trunks lead team three. Kurt and Gohan were in charge of the fourth team. The final team was under the command of Hank and Goku. Xavier moved deeper into the compound to manage the coming battle. He had no doubts this would be a full scale battle, not just a skirmish, but an outright part of the war.  
  
As Xavier stopped before the banks of monitors in the control room and watched the defenders of freedom take to the battlefield he steepled his fingers in silent prayer to any gods that may be listening. /Bring them back safely./  
  
zzzzzzzz  
  
Vegeta tossed the arm onto the table in front of Bulma and smirked at the woman's reaction to the technology. She looked like a Sai-jin child who'd just been given his first assignment, what he was told was the Human equivalent of a child on his birthday. "I trust you can figure something out from that junk?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah... just give me a few hours..." she said without even paying attention to what was going on.   
  
Vegeta smirked again and turned back to the others. "And now, my plan." He turned his eyes toward the ceiling silently wishing Piccolo was still on the planet, at least he had a direct connection to the 'higher-ups' he was intending to contact. "Dende!" he called out loudly. Having no way of contacting the Guardian mentally he'd have to do it the hard way. "Oh, come on! What could you possibly be doing up there, there's no T.V.!"  
  
The X-men looked at him like he'd lost it but Krillin was just wondering what the Sai-jin prince was up to. A moment later Dende's voice reached into all their minds. -What is it Vegeta?- he asked, curious himself.  
  
"I need you to put me through to the Supreme Kai." Vegeta responded.  
  
-What! Are you nuts! I know we weren't exactly formal befo...-  
  
"Look, I don't have time to deal with formalities!" Vegeta cried, his old anger surfacing a bit. "You can't tell me you didn't sense what just happened?"  
  
-Huh? I felt power spikes but.... I thought it only you and the others sparring.-  
  
"Incase you haven't noticed, Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, and Videl aren't even in this universe anymore!"  
  
-W-what! What happened?!-  
  
"What else, Bulma." Despite the situation Dende managed a smirk, until Vegeta continued. "Somehow she sent them into another universe, and brought some of them here. Including a guy that wants them dead."  
  
-Still, I can't just contact the Supreme Kai. I don't know how, or where he is.-  
  
Vegeta sighed exasperatedly. "The answer should be obvious! Contact King Kai! He's on the Grand Kai's world, I've no doubt they can contact Shin."  
  
-I'll see what I can do.-  
  
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Bastion stumbled over the cliff and fell nearly eight feet to the ground with a thud. He'd miscalculated the damage to his arm, one of his oil lines had been cut and he was losing the precious fluid making it hard to move. During his escape he'd hacked into the planet's wireless network of computers and guided his way into the depths of the Capsule Corp systems. There he'd found what he was looking for, and more.  
  
The computer had contained vast amounts of data on this world and the side that the average person never saw. The side he'd just fought. Still, despite that, his interest lay in the location of Gero's lab. The file said it had been destroyed but there was the chance that something was there. He'd gotten back to his feet and gone only a few yards before seeing the blasted area. The forest was slowly reclaiming but it was still there.  
  
He stumbled forward and found the hatch down to the lower levels. With a quick tug the door was opened and he was climbing down. When he reached the bottom he surveyed the damage. Most things were destroyed beyond recognition, others were beyond his understanding. Suddenly a glimmer of silver caught his eye and he turned to see what it was, and a smile spread across his face.  
  
There, hidden behind debris and rubble was a door. It looked as though the door had been hidden to begin with but had since been revealed to the light of day. "So let's see what behind door number 1." he muttered moving aside the garbage with his remaining arm. After it was clear he tugged on the door a couple of times before pulling it free of it's hinges.  
  
Taking a tentative step forward into the darkness beyond the doorway he suddenly found nothing below his feet and began to plummet. He reached out quickly with his good arm and managed to grasp a pipe for a moment but it soon gave out and he continued his descent. However, he only fell another ten feet before landing on the ground. As he stood a faint light lit up where he was and he could now see the ladder coming down the one wall. With a shake of his head he began to move forward, and then froze.  
  
A holographic image of an old man with long white hair had just appeared before him. "You... don't look familiar." the hologram said. "But I've got records on everything from Android 3 to Android 29..."  
  
"I'm not... one of Gero's..."  
  
The hologram nodded. "No, I suppose not. But it would seem you came to find him then? He's probably out ruling the world by now."  
  
Bastion managed to chuckle. He didn't know where it came from but there it was. It also caused the holographic man to raise and eyebrow. "I've met one of his creations... she's one their side now. And that Cell thing has been dead over seven years."  
  
The hologram growled and turned from him. "Damn them!" he gave a glance back at Bastion then looked over to an open chamber on the left wall. "Enter that and I'll repair and upgrade you. So long as you promise to destroy Goku!"  
  
Bastion nodded, even though he didn't think he'd encountered this Goku yet. He didn't really mean to follow through, unless it happened by chance. He only needed to be fixed. 


	6. The Alaskan War, Part One

Chapter Six - The Alaskan War, Part One  
  
Piccolo floated a few dozen yards above Wolverine and the other Mutants of their group. His sharp eyes scanned everything around him as his mind tried to sort through the energies he could sense. /To many people... and I doubt our opponents would be all that strong anyway.../ he mentally grumbled. Suddenly he caught a glint of light beyond a mountain and lifted higher for a better view. "Kami!" he cried dropping quickly.  
  
"I take it you saw something?" Logan asked with a glance toward the green man.  
  
"You could say that." Piccolo replied. "At least a hundred of those Sentinel things."  
  
Logan nodded. "Were they alone?"  
  
"A few small ships." Piccolo said. "And one... thing."  
  
"Thing?"  
  
"It looked like a Sentinel but was much shorter."  
  
"Shit." Wolverine growled drawing his claws. "A prime Sentinel. The big one's will guard it..."  
  
"What's the big deal about it?"  
  
"They're a new development from the last few months with the ability to put up energy fields that nullify Mutant powers. Once it goes up, we'll practically be sitting ducks. Don't know if it'll affect you or not."  
  
"We'll find out soon enough." Piccolo said with a nod. Several Sentinels had just flown up over the mountain and were landing again. As they did a purple glow came from beyond the mountain and spread for about a mile. Piccolo gauged his power as the field passed him. "Guess this universe has cut my power as much as it can. Keep the others alive, I'll deal with this 'Prime Sentinel' thing."  
  
"Right." Wolverine granted. "Be quick about it." Piccolo nodded, lifted into the air, and sped off toward the source of the field blasting off the heads of a few Sentinels as he passed.  
  
----------------------------------------------------  
  
Videl landed beside Jean who gave her a quick glance. "So how's it look?" the Mutant asked.  
  
"Not good..." Videl said worriedly. "There's a lot of those giant Sentinels coming this way."  
  
Jean nodded. "You could have stayed behind you know."  
  
"No." Videl said shaking her head. "You're being kind enough to help us, it's the least I can do." Jean smiled but didn't get the chance to say anything as the Sentinels began to crest the hill the girls and the other Mutants stood upon. The large machines paused for a moment at the sight before them, then continued on again. Jean focused and suddenly one of the large machines was pitched backwards.  
  
Videl watched in shock as a stream of fire zipped through the air and melted the feet off one of the machines. /Some cool powers they have... and I used to think flying was cool.../ With a shake of her head she launched into the air at one of the large machines. The Mutants turned to watch as the Human girl spun and smashed her foot into the Sentinel's head. There was a crack followed by a loud snapping sound and the head went flying off for a few feet before falling like a rock, the rest of it's body following after it. With a smile and a thumbs up back to Jean she turned toward another one. She shot in toward it but stopped suddenly as a purple light passed through her and across the field.  
  
"X-Force, hold your ground!" Jean cried.  
  
"What is this?" Videl called back down.  
  
"It's nullifying our powers! There's a Prime Sentinel around here somewhere. It's much smaller than the others, you'll have to find it and take it out!"  
  
Videl nodded and looked around. She couldn't see it but by the shape of the field she had an idea where it was and took off toward it.  
  
----------------------------------------------------  
  
Siren gave a glance about her at the other Mutants who were fighting with the large Sentinel units. The boys had each given off bursts of light and were now golden as they fought the large machines. She'd been worried about a possible Prime Sentinel in the group but it didn't look like that would be the case, thankfully. Returning her attention to the fight she saw another of the large machines running toward her. A quick motion of her hands before her and then she thrust them forward. No one around her could hear the intense and directed screeching sound that caused the air itself to shimmer and distort as it flowed toward the machine. There was a screeching sound like nails on a chalkboard as the sound hit the machine and tore into it's shell.  
  
"Not so fast girl!" a loud voice cried before a large fist pounded into the side of her head. "Now you're going to tell me where Xavier is!" he demanded.  
  
Siren pulled herself out of the snow and turned to see who had hit her. "Juggernaut!" she cried in shock. Growling she stood up. "You hate the professor enough to side with S.H.I.E.L.D.!?"  
  
"Just tell me where he..." he stopped. Well, his mouth was still moving but no sound was coming out, Siren stood with her hands in front of her and spread apart. Realizing she was blocking the sound of his voice he roared, silently, and charged in at her.  
  
Clutching one hand shut she pulled it back and then pitched it forward throwing a bubble of sound at him. The large man merely shrugged it off and kept on coming. "Damn... I forgot how strong he is!" she cried. "Ooofff!" Her eyes bulged out as spit and blood flew from her mouth. Cain had rammed his large fist into her stomach. Siren slid off his hand and fell to the ground in extreme pain.  
  
"Hold on!" Goten's voice cried out suddenly. She looked in time to see the golden kid turn from the Sentinel he'd been about to destroy and charge over to her.  
  
"Stay... back..." she cried hoarsely, but it was to late. Goten smashed his foot into Juggernaut's chest to knock him flying but... it didn't work. Cain just glared down at him.  
  
"Uh, oh! Trunks!" Goten cried moving back as one of the large man's fists swung at him. The other Chibi turned and saw his friend dodging punches. In a flash he charged in and slammed his own fist into Cain's chest but to no avail. "I already tried that!" Goten cried.  
  
"Then we have to fuse!" Trunks said. The other nodded and both floated backward quickly. Siren and Juggernaut watched in curiosity as the two boys moved through the needed motions. "Fuuuuu. Sion. Ha!" Their fingers touched in a brilliant flash and the two began to fuse.  
  
----------------------------------------------  
  
Gohan kicked the large Sentinel in it's chest knocking it over and then dropped with all his might on it's head smashing it into pieces. He leapt into the air just as a pair laser beams smashed into the ground where he'd been. /This isn't working to well.../ he thought. /I need more power.... but I can't transform anymore! Unless..../ "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" He clenched his fists and began to focus his power trying to transform. There was a spark of gold about him and then, in a flash he transformed into a Super Sai-jin. Gohan smiled. "This place must nullify what the old Kai did to me... Well, that's okay, this will make destroying these things easier."  
  
As Gohan started attacking more Sentinels, taking them down much faster, Kurt faced off against someone else. The blue Mutant stood almost toe-to-toe with the blue spandex clad Captain America. "Why can't you just leave us alone?" Kurt asked cautiously.  
  
America shook his head. "Not possible. The Human race needs to remain pure in order to survive. You and the rest of your kind are abominations." He shifted his position quickly and pitched his shield across the expanse at Kurt but the Mutant merely teleported off to the side to dodge it. Captain America caught the shield as it came back in to him. As he caught the shield he took off at a run for Kurt. A few feet away he pitched the shield again but Kurt teleported out of the way again. When Kurt appeared again Captain America was right there and punched him squarely in the face.  
  
Gohan turned at the sound. He could feel a high power, at lest, for this universe it was high. Higher than his right now too. Looking down he saw the man in spandex walking over to the fallen Kurt and catching a large shield. In a flash Gohan descended and came between the two, ignoring the Sentinels still in the area for the other Mutants to deal with.  
  
"And who are you?" Captain America asked him curiously. "I've never seen a Mutant like you before."  
  
"The name's Gohan, and let's just say I'm new around here." Gohan thrust an arm forward firing a stream of golden energy at him. The man raised the shield and batted the energy away before running in at high speeds. Gohan pulled back and went to block but Captain America's leg came up and slammed into his stomach doubling him over. Then the man uppercut him in the jaw with the shield knocking him into the air. His left fist cocked back and shot forward slamming into Gohan's stomach knocking him backward. He fell into the snow and slid a few feet before his aura vanished and his hair turned black.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
Beast leapt off the back of a Sentinel a second before it fell on it's face, sparks flying from a large gash in it's back. Meanwhile, Goku, who'd shifted into Super, smashed his foot into the chin of one of the large machines and knocked it skyward several yards before flying under it and then kicking it into orbit. The Sai-jin spun at the last second and blasted a stream of gold energy through another Sentinels head. As the large machine toppled over into the snow Goku caught a glimpse of something walking slowly through the snow toward him and Beast.  
  
He landed beside the blue furred Mutant and motioned toward the approaching figure. Beast turned to look and his eyes widened slightly. "Piotr!"  
  
"Who?" Goku asked as the man suddenly changed, becoming metallic in appearance.  
  
"A Mutant that goes by the Name of Colossus..." Beast explained as he examined Colossus from the distance. "And he's wearing a control collar, that explains why he's fighting with the Sentinels."  
  
"So, destroy or remove the collar and he'll be on our side?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Goku nodded and shot in toward Colossus across the frozen landscape kicking up snow as he moved. Goku eyed up Colossus as he neared. He'd noticed something about these Mutants, their powers were erratic. Right now Colossus felt about only half as strong as Goku was but the Sai-jin knew that could change quickly. He'd felt some of the Mutants powers during the fight spike upon attack or defense. It was rather odd, and very disorienting to his senses.  
  
At the last second Goku moved toward the right some and lashed out with his foot. Colossus's arm came up and blocked the kick then he followed up with a punch to the face that knocked Goku back. He stopped his backward spin a moment later and turned to face Colossus again. Goku's body tensed a moment and then, in a flash of gold, he transformed to the second level.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Fury sat within his office at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters watching the video feeds from the battle in Alaska. His eyebrows had shot up at the sight of the kids turning gold. Then the two unknown male adults had followed suit, well, except for the green guy.  
  
"Who are they?" asked a voice from beside him.  
  
Fury shook his head. "A better question is, what are they? I've seen a few scientific reports that have said that Mutants would eventually settle into a single new race of beings..."  
  
"You think these ones might be this new race?" the voice asked.  
  
"Possibly. I've never seen four Mutants with identical powers befor..." Fury stopped as the two kids merged. "Very interesting..."  
  
"What should we do?"  
  
"Nothing, just yet. But have Mutant Zero readied just incase."  
  
"Yes sir." 


	7. The Alaskan War, Part Two

Nynaeve al'Meara: Nope, never been to Alaska. I might be able to handle southern Alaska where it's not as cold, but there's no way I could deal with Northern Alaska.   
  
Chapter Seven: The Alaskan War, Part Two  
  
Piccolo pulled to a stop and looked down. He'd found his target. Five of the large Sentinels stood around the smaller Prime Sentinel. He couldn't see anything special about it other than its smaller size. He dropped straight down smashing his way down through the middle of one of the Sentinels as he dropped. He came to a stop a foot above the snow covered ground and moved back as the large machine crumbled.  
  
With a smirk he thrust his arms up and blasted off twin streams of energy. Each cut through the upper bodies of a different Sentinel lifting them off the ground a couple feet before dropping them again. By this time the two remain machines had spotted him and turned. Each raised their arms, small, round, crystal like objects on their palms glowing. Piccolo lifted straight into the air as the energy surged forth and impacted where he'd been standing.  
  
He drifted around to the side of them to line them up. With another smirk his eyes sparked and twin beams of energy cut through the air, and the heads of the two Sentinels. As the last of the Sentinels collapsed and Piccolo dropped down to deal with the Prime Sentinel. The machine turned toward him, pulled back a fist, and swung. There was a crack as its fist connected with Piccolo's face... to no effect. The Namek reached out an arm and fired a point blank stream of green energy right through its chest causing it to explode. "Humph. That was easy." There was a loud crack and Piccolo's eyes suddenly bulged, his mouth snapping open in pain and shock, and he fell to the ground unconscious.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Videl relaxed a bit as another Sentinel fell over. "These things are everywhere, and I still haven't found that Prime thing." She looked around but could only see a few trees here and there and a couple of the tall Sentinels. She frowned and looked up to get a bearing of the fields center. /I'm in the right place.../ She looked down again and as she did she saw a small air ship of sorts a few hundred yards away. "That must be it."  
  
She took off toward the ship quickly and reached it within a few seconds. A peek in through a side window revealed that the ship was carrying the Prime Sentinel. With a grin Videl flew backward and moved her arms out. Light purple energy sparked around her hands for a few seconds and then shot forward tearing into the ship and destroying it. She watched as the Prime Sentinel began to fall, but suddenly bursts of flame came from it's feet and it stabilized.  
  
Then it began lifting up toward her and she slid into a fighting position. The Prime Sentinel moved in quickly, thrusters in it's back shooting it forward. Videl brought her arm up quickly to block it's punch as it's left arm came shooting forward. The metal fist smacked into her arm with a loud crack. Her eyes opened in shock and pain for a second, before her scream of pain rang out. She gripped her broken arm and drifted back from the machine before her, unsure what to do.  
  
Gritting her teeth she realized she only had one chance. She let go of her injured arm and pulled her good arm back to her side, hoping she could pull it off. Gohan hadn't exactly finished teaching her the attack yet... "Kaaaa... Meeee... Haaaa... Meeee... Haaaaaaa!" She thrust her arm forward firing the stream of blue energy right for the Prime Sentinel. The machine reached up both hands and caught the attack, holding it at bay without trouble. It only took a few moments for Videl's energy to run out and she began to fall.  
  
The Prime Sentinel dropped down after her quickly, catching her before she hit. Turning it looked off into the distance and lined up the location of the flying fortress. Locking on to its destination it slung her over its shoulder and took off through the air.  
  
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As the light faded Siren gaped at Gotenks. She'd never heard of anything like that before... they'd... merged! Gotenks smirked. "Oh yeah, I ro.... Hey!" he cried in his double voice, looking down at himself. "Man... this sucks." he said gauging his power. "Oh well." he shrugged and shot in at Cain. He flew up to the side of him and lashed out with a kick at the large man's helmeted head. His foot connected with a crack but still did nothing to him.  
  
"What! No way, I'm that weak?" Gotenks pouted. "Alright then! Level two!" In a flash of gold he transformed to the second level. With a grin he shot in at Juggernaut again. He sped in toward his chest and landed a hard punch with a resounding crack that caused Cain to slid backward in the snow for several feet. "Now that's better!" Gotenks cheered grinning. Suddenly he looked off to his right... /Gohan? Focus Gotenks, deal with this first!/  
  
Gotenks moved in again but this time one of Cain's fists lashed out and caught him across the jaw knocking him back. The Fusion managed to slip to the left just as one of the large man's giant feet came crashing down into the snow. His eyes widened and he quickly ducked as another fist swipe came toward his head passing by only inches above his face.  
  
He shot up into the air quickly and floated there, looking down at Cain. /Well, at least he can't fly./ he thought, crossing his arms. Suddenly he began to smirk. He pulled his head back slightly, took a deep breath, and then released three Super Ghosts. Juggernaut, Siren, and the Mutants in the area not busy fighting a Sentinel stared at the three floating... things. "Alright guys, Attack!" Gotenks cried pointing down at Juggernaut.  
  
The three grinning ghosts sped down toward the large man quickly. As the first reached him Cain tried to swat it away causing it to explode and throw him back several yards. As he slammed down into the snow the two remaining ghosts came down from above and exploded as well. When the light and smoke died it revealed an exposed section of rock where the snow had been completely melted, and Cain laying there unconscious. Gotenks thrust his arm out and gave Siren the victory sign, a big grin plastered across his face.  
  
Then he turned and counted the remaining Sentinels in the area. /29, right, no problem!/ After another deep breath he released a slew of new Super Ghosts, one for each remaining Sentinel. An instant later they were bolting across the sky at the large machines. After twenty-nine consecutive explosions all that remained was twenty-nine piles of scrap metal.  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Captain America bent down and looked at the unconscious Gohan. "Very interesting Mutant indeed..." he said softly. He reached up and touched a transmitter button on his outfit. "Fury, you watching this?" he asked.  
  
"Yes." came the muffled and static filled reply. "Send them both back, they could be useful. We've already got two others of interest as well."  
  
"Understood." He released the button and grabbed Gohan slinging him over one shoulder. He moved across the way to where Kurt still laid and hefted him up as well on to his other shoulder. Depressing another button he waited a moment until a hovering platform of sorts descended to his location and climbed on. He dropped the two bodies onto the plat form and then programmed it to return to the fortress. That done he climbed off again and the platform took off.  
  
Turning he gazed across the frozen battlefield. There were downed Sentinels and Mutants here and there, as well as a number of continuing fights. He spotted a Mutant near-by and pitched his shield to hit him from behind. It never reached it's target however as a golden streak surged down from above and drove it into the snow. Captain America cocked an eyebrow at the sight of another mutant like the one he'd just fought, only this one was younger and had a blue and yellow glow.  
  
"Where's Gohan!?" Gotenks demanded crossing his arms.  
  
"Gone." Captain America replied. "On his way back to the fortress with the other Mutant. If you'd like, I can send you to join him."  
  
Gotenks growled and shot in at the other man quickly. The man pulled back his fist and swung it at the charging child but Gotenks slipped beneath it easily. In a flash he spun around and lashed out with his foot slamming it into Captain America's stomach with a loud crack that sent him reeling backward a couple dozen yards. Before he could hit the ground Gotenks appeared above him and drove him down through the snow and ice and into the rock beneath it knocking him out. As he drifted up out of the snow crater he'd formed he looked around for any signs of Gohan but couldn't find any.  
  
His eyes widened suddenly as a fist appeared out of no where and surged directly at his face. Before he had a chance to do anything it connected with a resounding crack and Gotenks fell over backwards, his aura vanishing, and his hair returning to normal.  
  
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Goku launched in at Colossus again. This time when the large Mutant took a swing at him he caught his fist in one hand. With a tug he pulled Colossus off his feet and threw him a few feet into the air. He thrust up an arm and fired a low powered energy blast at the collar about the Mutant's neck but he brought his arms up and blocked the attack. A second later Colossus came crashing back down into the snow sinking almost waist deep.  
  
Goku sped across the surface toward the other man again. As he neared Colossus the large man suddenly pulled free of the snow and jammed his knee into Goku's face. The blow caught Goku by surprise and knocked him skyward a few feet. It only took a second for him to regain his balance and stop his ascent. Looking down he found Colossus pulling a large rock out of the ground from beneath the snow.  
  
In a flash he charged down and smashed his foot into Piotr's face knocking him over. He stretched out an arm and fired stream of golden energy at the collar yet again. This time it connected and tore through destroying the device. A second later Piotr reverted to his normal state and he passed out.  
  
"Well done friend." Hank said walking over. "We can handle the rest of the Sentinels here for now, take him back to the base, and as many of the others as you can to please."  
  
"Sure thing." Goku said bending down and picking up the fallen Mutant. He went about the area getting the other injured Mutants as well before taking off for the base again leaving Hank and those still fit to fight to deal with the remaining Sentinels. 


	8. The Alaskan War, Part Three

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to write this. I got side tracked with several other things. Namely, a Novel I'm working on and a DBZ AMV I made (which can be found listed in my profile). But I'm back now and it's time to get this one rolling again, as well as the others.  
  
Chapter Eight: The Alaskan War, Part Three  
  
"Goku, we have a problem." Charles said as the Sai-jin landed and began to set the others done. "Reports are coming in from the battles, you, and Hank are about the only was left still able to fight."  
  
Goku looked up. "What about Piccolo, Videl, and the boys?"  
  
Charles shook his head. "So far I've not heard of anything from Wolverine about Piccolo, we lost communication with Logan a few moments ago. As for the others, reports indicate they've been captured."  
  
Goku's face hardened a bit as he turned to look out across the frozen landscape. He stretched out his senses and felt Piccolo and Gotenks being taken toward the same location. Then he felt IT not to far away from him. "Get inside, quickly. We have company." Goku said without turning. "Show yourself!" he called a moment later. "I know you're there, I can sense you."  
  
"So you can." said a deep and slightly raspy voice. Goku watched as it's owner emerged from the shadows of the cliff face and floated up to eye level. He was a large man, massive didn't seem a big enough description. The man was fourteen foot tall with arms and legs as big around as trees, he made even Goku's USSJ form look tiny by comparison. His head was bald but he did have a small beard of red hair. His eyes were blue and seemed a bit... sunken. "I was hoping the others would have put up better fights, but they were easy. You don't seem much stronger than them either."  
  
/Who is this guy? He's not quite as strong as Piccolo so how'd he take him out?/  
  
"Piccolo?" The guy asked. "Hmm, that would have been the green guy, right? He didn't seem all that strong to me, A single punch to the back of the head and he went down."  
  
"How'd you..."  
  
The man grinned and tapped his head. "Mind reading. I can hear your thoughts, and if I had the time I could probe your mind and learn everything you kn..." he stopped as the unexpected happened. Silence. One second Goku's mind was wide open, the next, he couldn't even find it anymore. "Mental powers too eh?"  
  
Goku shook his head. "No. Just discipline, I'm keeping my mind clear." Goku took a step forward. "So you took out Piccolo with a sneak attack, while his guard was down, that explains things. I think you'll find it a bit harder to take me out, now that I'm ready for you." There was a spark of gold at Goku's feet and then a brilliant flash as he ascended straight to level three. That put him just above... "So, what's your name anyway?"  
  
"You can call me Mutant Zero, or Zero works." he said suddenly swinging a large fist.  
  
Goku moved back and the fist never hit him, but something did and it knocked him back into the hangar doors, hard. He pried himself out and looked at Zero who was grinning and then charged in at him. Goku never reached Zero. The large man swung his arm again, his fist stopping several feet from Goku, yet something slammed into his face and knocked him back again. /What the heck!?/ Goku wondered as he stabilized himself. /I'm not sensing any KI waves coming from him... so what's hitting me?/  
  
Zero grinned and started pumping his arms back and forth throwing off rapid punches. Goku brought his arms up quickly and felt the blows pounding into him, but still couldn't feel any KI waves and Zero was far to far away to be hitting him with his fists. After a moment he slipped around to the side and heard a loud crack as one of Zero's invisible blows smashed into the rock. Zero turned to start his attack again but Goku vanished.  
  
The large man looked about him for any sign of his opponent but couldn't see anything. Then suddenly a foot smashed into the back of his head. He was caught completely off guard and hurtled forward into the cliff face with a thunderous crack. "If you're a Mutant, then why are you trying to kill them?" Goku asked as the man pulled himself out of the rock.  
  
"Cause I'm not a Mutant, despite the name. I'm the first Super Human..." he said turning around. "I'm 100% Human." he smirked. "The power of science is the source of my mental powers. Telepathy, telekinesis..." he raised each arm, clutching his hands into fists. "Pyrokinesis." he said as his right fist exploded into flames. "Cryokinesis." his left fist began to glow blue. "And Electrokinesis." bolts of lightning began to dance about his body.  
  
Goku's eyes widened slightly as he readied for the battle. This would be a lot different than any fight he'd ever had before. Zero pulled back his right fist and then threw a punch sending the blue glow surging toward Goku. The Sai-jin dodged quickly and watched as it hit a tree freezing it solid. "Yikes! That's not good..." He turned around again just in time to see a stream of electrically laced flame charging toward him. He ducked under it and charged in at Zero again landing a hard punch to the large man's stomach and getting flung backward by the electric discharge. "Ahhhh!" Goku shook his hand trying to get the feeling back as Zero rubbed his stomach and laughed.  
  
"Hahaha! See! Hit me and you hurt yourself too! You can't win, if you attack you'll harm yourself more than me!"  
  
Goku looked at him and grinned. "You're not the only one with ranged attacks." he said shifting his position. Zero's raised his eyebrows as a blue glow formed between Goku's cupped hands. "Kaaaaaaaaaa... Meeeeeeeeeeee... Haaaaaaaaaaa... Meeeeeeeeeee...." Goku thrust his arms forward. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The stream of blue energy exploded toward Zero and the large man gathered all of his powers into his hands to form a barrier.  
  
The Kamehameha wave slammed into the unusual barrier and began to drive Zero down toward the ground. The large man re-formed his barrier removing the electricity as he channeled it about his body. He was uncertain what powers this Mutant possessed, or what this attack was exactly, but he could use it to his advantage. He'd channel an electrical charge right up it's length! Just as his feet touched the ground he let out a cry as he forced the electric charge from his body and up the length of the blue energy wave.  
  
Goku saw it coming at the last second and ended his attack sliding quickly to the right. The electric blast shot off into space and out of sight. Turning Goku looked back down at where Zero stood and realized something. That blast had dropped his power a good deal, but it was rebuilding at a steady rate. This guy's strength was focused around the charge of the various mental powers he had. Burn off the charge and he'd be a normal person...  
  
"You're good for Mutant!" Zero called up.  
  
"I'm no Mutant either." Goku called down as his mind worked out something of a plan.  
  
"Oh? So then what exactly are you? You aren't Human, obviously, and I know all the other Super Humans."  
  
"I'm a Sai-jin, an alien." Goku shook his head. "I'm not even from this universe." A new idea came to Goku. Perhaps... There was a flash of gold as he reverted to normal and began to float down. "My friends and I were pulled here..."  
  
Zero lowered his arms and let his charge fall a bit. "So why are you fighting for the Mutants?"  
  
Goku touched down on the ground a couple yards away from Zero. "It's what we do. Protect people. It's been what we do for years. From one bad guy to the ne..."  
  
"We aren't the bad guys, the Mutants are. If what you say is true then you're on the wrong side."  
  
"No. I've talked to them." Goku said. "They just want peace. They're not the ones trying to commit genoc..."  
  
"Ha! I take it they've not told you about the 'Day of Reckoning' as that Magneto guy calls it." Zero's body began to ripple and Goku felt all his power drain away as he suddenly began to shrink until he looked almost Human. "Let me tell you something... the Day of Reckoning was four years ago. The two Mutant groups known as the Brotherhood and the X-Men were at a football game in Bayville.  
  
"Well, one of the X-Men had been dating a member of the Brotherhood named Avalanche. At the game she dumped him. What'd he go and do? He LEVELED Bayville! Reduced it to a pile of rubble! It was that incident, and the battle between the Brotherhood and the X-Men that followed, that revealed the existence of Mutants to the world. When the US Army went in to try and get control of the situation the Mutant Magneto killed them, all of them! Tell me, does that sound like peace to you?" Zero asked crossing his arms.  
  
"Things happen that are beyond control." Goku returned. "Just a few months ago a decision I made ended up causing everyone on my world to be killed, and the planet itself to be destroyed. People make bad choices but anyone can do that. You're judging an entire people based off only a few."  
  
Zero growled. "You're beyond reason." Goku's eyes widened as he felt Zero's energy build again. Quickly he ascended again as Zero bulked back up.  
  
/Guess it's back to wearing him out then.../ Goku dodged around a stream of fire and then fired a quick burst of energy at Zero. The large man swatted it aside and shot of a stream of electricity. Goku dodged around it quickly but was then nailed by telekinetic blast to the stomach that doubled him over. He looked up just in time to see Zero charging in at him, fist cocked back and encased in fire and electricity.  
  
Goku slipped to the right just at the last second and the punch missed him. Suddenly an idea came to Goku and he thrust out a fist toward Zero's head. His fist was still inches away from Zero when the loud crack sounded knocking Zero away from him and back into the cliff face. Goku actually smirked as he lowered his arm. A little KI field between him and Zero nullified the effect of the electric field that Zero was surrounded in.  
  
He didn't give Zero the chance to recover as he thrust out an arm and fired a stream of energy at him. The blast slammed into the large man and mountain face with a mighty explosion. As Goku lowered his arm again he felt for Zero's energy. It was there, but a good deal lower. However, it was charging up again. "Yaaa!" Goku cried thrusting both arms forward, palms open. There was a spark of gold from his palms and then a rush of wind blew through the smoke and drove Zero farther into the rock. Goku finally felt the others energy subside to a normal level and stop building as Zero lost consciousness.  
  
Goku left out a sigh and relaxed as he powered down. Walking over he grabbed Zero and floated back up to the hanger bay where he'd been talking to Charles earlier. As he landed the doors opened and the Mutant emerged again with a few others. "We'll take him to the infirmary." he said nodding toward one of the Mutants. "Can you still sense your friends?"  
  
Goku turned and looked off into the distance again and then nodded. "Yeah, but they're pretty far away now, and moving away quickly."  
  
"Go and rescue them, most of the Sentinels in the area are destroyed. We can handle what's left of them."  
  
"You sure?" Goku asked. Charles nodded. "Alright, I'll come back with anyone they captured as quickly as I can." Goku said turning toward where he could just make out Gohan's KI and took off.  
  
"Good luck Goku." Charles said watching him go. "Good luck."  
  
zzzzzzzz  
  
Vegeta stood there tapping his foot impatiently as Dende contacted King Kai and spoke with him. The Sai-jin prince didn't like being 'put on hold' like this, it was frustrating. He preferred to be in control. Then, after nearly ten minutes of waiting, King Kai's voice came through at last. -Vegeta, what's going on? Dende says Goku's not in the universe anymore?-  
  
"Him, Piccolo, Videl, Gohan, Trunks, and Goten." Vegeta replied. "I need to talk to the Supreme Kai."  
  
-Yes... this is something he'll want to hear about... Give me a moment to find him, Otherworld is a large place.- King Kai said telepathically. There was a moment of silence before the blue Kai spoke again. -He's going to come to you in a few moments, seems he's dealing with something of importance in the H.F.I.L. right now...-  
  
"Fine." Vegeta said braking the connection.  
  
"So, what's going on?" Kitty asked. "Who were those people you were just talking too?"  
  
"Dende's the Guardian of Earth." Krillin replied. "King Kai is... well a Kai. I trained under him, as did a few of my friends. The Supreme Kai is the leader of the Kais, we met him recently when Buu first came along."  
  
"But... what's a Kai?" Rogue asked.  
  
"We are the Gods of this universe." came a new voice. Everyone turned to look and saw the tall and long haired Supreme Kai standing in the room with them. "Now, tell me what's happened." As Vegeta and the X-Men filled Shin in on what had been happening recently Krillin went over to the phone and called Yamcha. Any extra man power they could get to fight Bastion would be welcomed in his opinion. He'd have to ask Shin to get Tien... assuming the Supreme Kai didn't lend them a hand himself.  
  
As Krillin returned to where the others were Shin sighed. "I'm afraid I can't take you home myself." he said to the X-Men. "Nor can I go and get Goku and the others. The barriers between universes are impassable by Kais. We are restricted to our own domains, just as all gods are."  
  
"And the Dragonballs wont be re-charged for a while yet..." Krillin said. Then he looked up smiling. "But the Namek Dragonballs should be ready in just a couple more months!"  
  
Shin nodded. "Yes, Parunga will be more than capable to fix this matter."  
  
"What about Bastion?" Scott asked. "We still need to find him."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
Bastion was monitoring everything the automated systems did to him as they worked. According to the hologram the computer was integrating parts from a few prototype Android models that Gero had never completed. He was also being installed with a control device for the two operational Androids that were in the lab. 23 and 27. The hologram also said that the system should work for any Android.  
  
Gero had called the Prime Sentinels down into the lab as well and they too were being upgraded with new features. Bastion powered down most of his systems as he waited for the repairs and upgrades to be completed. It would take a few more hours yet... and then he could take out the Mutants. Once and for all. 


	9. Unwilling Puppets

A/N: So sorry this took so long! I had a serious case of writers block on the start of this chapter and a few other points in the chapter as well. But, here you go, a brand new chapter! Don't you feel special? XP  
  
JDX: At first, your review confused me, but now I think I can explain why they sensed their lowered powers. It's not that the STRENGTH of their power has been lowered, but that they're actual power production itself has been lowered. Which means they're actually generating lower amounts of power now than in their universe. If it was the strength of their energy that had gone down Piccolo would have lost more power than he did, and Videl would have lost power as well. What it is is this, Humans are Humans period (which means Krillin would still be as strong as ever if he'd gone through, as would Tien and Yamcha), Nameks fit in the X universe physics to a better extent than Saiya-jins (or, well, Sai-jins since this is an AU.) Anyway, on with the story!  
  
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Chapter Nine - Unwilling Puppets  
  
Yamcha leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head bored. He had arrived a few hours ago and Tien had shown up shortly there after. Since then there had been nothing to do. No signs of Bastion or the other Prime Sentinels the X-men said were with him. Storm had been given a Senzu and her arm was mended now. Krillin and Tien had taken to one of the Gravity Chambers where they were sparring, everyone else was watching on the monitors and scanners.  
  
"Man, I can't believe how far behind I've fallen..." Yamcha said watching.  
  
"That's what happens when you sit on your ass all day." Vegeta said. "Though I'd not thought Tien would be this strong. I thought he stopped training after the Cell Games."  
  
"Him? Stop training?" Yamcha asked. "That would be like a Sai-jin giving up eating. No matter what he says his training is his life, even if he has quit fighting for the most part." He sighed as he followed the match with his senses. Despite Vegeta's opinion he had trained over the last seven years. Not to the extent he once had, but he didn't intend to turn into a pile of fat. Krillin had quit training but was still stronger than him, then again, there'd been a large gap in their powers even back at the Cell games, one that was slowly closing.   
  
Tien, on the other hand, was stronger than ever. Now he saw that his estimate back at the world tournament had been wrong, Tien was the strongest Human, not Krillin. The three eyed Human was more than three times his strength, and with powers of their level that was quite the gap, despite the fact it wasn't anywhere near Goku or the others.  
  
"Sorry if I'm being a pest... but this is... confusing..." Kitty said glancing from the monitor she was watching and up at Yamcha. She sat straddling a chair, arms resting against the top of it and head resting on her arms. She and the others had been having Yamcha explain this world to them, and who everyone was. "This Frieza guy killed Krillin..."  
  
Yamcha nodded. "It was the second time he'd died." he said. "At the time Goku didn't know it would be possible to revive him again, the Earth Dragon can only revive someone once. So it hit him really hard, Krillin had been his best friend for years and hadn't stood a chance against Frieza. That was the first time Goku transformed into a Super Sai-jin. That's the only reason we're here now, Goku was able to beat Frieza."  
  
"This Super Sai-jin..." Scott started. "Was that the gold hair thing we saw against Bastion?"  
  
It was Vegeta that answered. "Yes, but I was at the second level then." he said. "Kakkarotto hadn't killed Frieza on Namek and a year later he came to Earth. Kakkarotto was still several hours away and none of us were a match for Frieza yet." The Sai-jin Prince smirked. "That's when Trunks appeared and killed Frieza like he was nothing."  
  
"Trunks?" Kitty asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Vegeta's son, from the future." Yamcha said. "He'd come back to warn us of a worse threat than Frieza, a pair of Androids." he nodded toward 18. "They'd thrashed the future and killed everyone except him and Gohan. We all spent the next three years training, that's when Vegeta transformed. When the time finally came we found out there were more Androids than just two."  
  
"Kakkarotto came down with a Heart Virus, the same Virus that had killed him in the other time-line, and was taken out by Android 19. So I stepped in and dealt with him. Dr. Gero, who'd rebuilt himself as Android 20, took off and we chased him to his lab were he released 17 and 18 who then killed him and freed 16."  
  
"And then, a little later, I kicked Vegeta's ass." 18 said with a grin.  
  
Vegeta snorted. "We could always have a rematch." he said raising an eyebrow.  
  
"I'd watch it Vegeta." Yamcha said grinning. "Krillin's liable to Destructo Disk your you-know-what." Kitty giggled while Storm and Scott glanced at each other.  
  
"Anyway," Vegeta continued. "After that Piccolo re-merged with Kami, and that's when Cell appeared. An Android from the Future that had killed another Trunks and stolen his Time-machine using it to come back to absorb 17 and 18 to become perfect. Piccolo fought him but he got away."  
  
"That's when Goku recovered." Yamcha said. "Him, Gohan, Vegeta, Trunks, and Piccolo all went to the lookout to train in the Room of Spirit and Time where they could get a year of training in a day. Trunks and Vegeta went in first. By the time they got out Cell had absorbed 17 and transformed."  
  
"But Vegeta was still stronger." 18 said. "Cell didn't stand a chance against him, and that would have been it but Vegeta let his ego override whatever brains he had then." Vegeta snorted again but said nothing. "He let Cell absorb me, and held off Trunks who tried to stop it." 18 grinned. "I don't remember it but Vegeta got his ass kicked again."  
  
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Vegeta asked with a frown.  
  
Bulma laughed from where she stood in the doorway "A girl's gotta have some fun Vegeta." she said bringing in a try of food. "My mom made some sandwiches for everyone."  
  
"Oh, thanks! I'm starved!" Kitty said taking one. Then she turned back to Vegeta. "What happened next?"  
  
Yamcha shook his head. "Vegeta missed it, he was out cold. But Trunks took on Cell and proved he was stronger. Thing was, he was to slow. He couldn't hit Cell. But luckily for us Cell had Vegeta's ego. He gave us ten days to get ready for a tournament. When the time came Gohan was a Super Sai-jin already. And after some pushing by Cell he transformed to the second level." Yamcha glanced toward the door as 18 walked out. Shrugging he went back to telling the story.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------  
  
There was a hiss throughout the underground lab as several panels on the walls slid open. Bastion emerged from one of the new alcoves looking as good as knew. Glancing to either side he saw two Prime Sentinels, or rather, what had once been two Prime Sentinels. They were now about twenty foot tall. The hologram had told him the others units would be stripped for building materials, still, these four new designs should be enough.  
  
Bastion tuned his gaze to the right wall of the lab where two vertical metal casket like devices rested, one labeled 23 and the other 27. He engaged his new systems and the door labeled 23 hissed and began to open. There was a soft click as the door stopped and then a hand reached out and gripped the edge. A second later the Android pulled itself out and looked about. Compared to the four Prime Sentinels it wasn't all that large, but by normal standards he was huge. 23 stood nine foot and seven inches tall. He had on a pair of gray boots and gloves, and a dark green trench coat belted with a metal band. He was bald, his skin was red, and his eyes were sold blue.  
  
"The last bulky mechanical design." the Gero hologram said. "The Doctor had yet to perfect the smaller device for the fully robotic units yet. 24 through 26 were spent try to do this. 27 was the first success in that department."  
  
Bastion nodded and turned to the door marked 27. Instantly it hissed and whined as it began to open. With a soft click the door looked into place and the Android within emerged. She was a stark contrast to the massive form of 23, let alone the Prime Sentinels. Standing only an inch or two over five foot she had dark red waist length hair, bright purple eyes, and light tan skin. She had on a pair of red fingerless gloves, a skin tight gray leather top and skin tight gray leather pants.  
  
"Gero had been determined that his creations look like average Humans. That way they could move about without attracting attention and locate Goku without being discovered." the hologram said. "However, he only achieved this with a handful of designs. 13, 16 through 18, 20, and 27."  
  
"Can they function on their own?" Bastion asked.  
  
"I've installed their complete AI's and they should follow your orders without question. Something of note is that both of them are stronger than you were."  
  
"And what about my upgrades?" Bastion asked looking at himself.  
  
"Your design was ingenious, but lacking. You were generating far more power than your systems could manage. In fact, you were operating at only 20% and still damaging your systems. I upgraded all of that and managed to replicate your generators and install a duplicate. So now, not only are you at a hundred percent, you are also twice as powerful as you were before. Well beyond any of these units.  
  
"One last thing. I've re-done your scanners as well. You were acquiring more than enough data for what I installed to work. You shall now be able to gauge the strengths of your opponents. You'll be able to track these readings as well so you should never have to problem of losing the location of someone."  
  
"And the control system?"  
  
"Up and running. I have already established contact with the satellite network. You should be able to engage the system without problem. You will need visual contact to first engage the link however."  
  
Bastion smirked. "Excellent. The Mutants wont know what hit them. Sentinels, we're moving out."  
  
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The forest was fairly quiet. The sounds of birds and other wild animals and a near-by gurgling stream were interrupted only by the occasion thump of a an axe to wood. A thin gray stream of smoke billowed up slowly from the stone chimney of the small cottage in the woods. A lone figure stood in the small clearing behind the home, axe in hand. He placed a new log on the block, raised the axe, and brought it down quickly slicing the wood into two even halves. A gust of wind blew through the valley ruffling his black hair as he placed another small log on the chopping block.  
  
Gripping the axe he brought it up for another swing, and then stopped. Lowering it slowly he looked about him for whatever was there. He couldn't see anyone or thing yet but... he knew someone was around. "Show yourself!" he called out dropping the axe and charging a KI blast in his right hand. He raised his arm and pointed the attack toward the words using it's bright glow to penetrate the forested depths about him.  
  
"Relax 17." A voice said from above. "You're awfully jumpy."  
  
17 looked up and sighed, letting the energy blast fade away. "What's up 18, other than you?"  
  
18 shrugged and landed. "Old memories." she said. "We've got some... odd stuff going on."  
  
"And you're here for my help?" he shook his head. "I told you..."  
  
"I know." she said leaning against the outside wall of his cottage. "I don't know why I came out here really..."  
  
"Well, it makes it easier for us." a smooth female voice asked from behind him.  
  
17 spun about and saw a young woman walking toward him and 18, dark red hair flowing out behind her and bright purple eyes on him as she grinned. He raised an eyebrow at the sight behind her. A tall red man in a trench coat, a shorter bearded man, and four really big purple guys. "Who the hell are you?"  
  
It was the red man who spoke. "I am Android 23, she is Android 27." he motioned toward the girl. "These are Prime Sentinels and he is Bastion." he said in a deep voice.  
  
"And you..." said 27. "Are going to help us.  
  
17 laughed. "Whatever. Get lost."  
  
18 moved from the wall and slid into a fighting position. Suddenly 27 vanished. 18 turned around and found 27 standing in front of 17 now. "Now now 18." she said slowly, looking over her back. "We'll get to you in a second." Turning back to 17 she found him glaring at her a moment, but suddenly a pulse of blue flashed within his eyes and his face went blank for a second. 27 smiled. "See 17? I told you you'd help us."  
  
"What did you do to him!" she cried lunging in at the red haired woman. 27 raised her right arm and caught 18's punch without trouble.  
  
"Enough playing." 23 said turning around.  
  
"Spoil Sport." 27 pouted as 18's eyes pulsed blue for a second. Her face did the same as 17's. It blanked for a second and the returned to normal.  
  
"23 is right." Bastion said crossing his arms. "We have a job to do." 


	10. Another Rescue Mission

Chapter 10 - Another Rescue Mission  
  
Goku was moving as quickly as he could in his base form but the others were going faster than him. He knew, even if he transformed and went as quickly as he could, he'd still not reach them before they got wherever they were going. And for some reason he couldn't use the Instant Transmission. With a sigh he resigned himself to trailing them, but not at such a slow pace that he might lose them. In a flash he ascended to the second level and sped off after them.  
  
As he flew he watched as the landscape below him changed and shifted. The frozen land slowly began to give way to rocky mountains and then rolling plains. He'd been flying for a good three or four hours before he felt the ship the others were in slow down and finally stop. In the distance he could see rising buildings reaching into the sky and then a city that was beyond crowded. /Man, and I'd thought West City was bad./  
  
He flew over the city quickly and then spied a tall statue, one arm raised high with a torch in hand. He could also see a lot of security milling about as he powered down. A bit further out in the bay he could see the large ship now partly submerged. There were so many powers around him now that he couldn't pick out the low powers of his unconcious friends. /Crap. Alright, think Goku. Just going down and blasting your way in won't work you'll never find them... Maybe I could wait until someone wakes and powers up? But that may not happen!/  
  
Goku bit his lip as he scanned the area below him and then smiled. Off in the water, a good distance from everyone else, was a small boat. On that boat were two people, both were wearing the security outfits of the guards around the large statue. He eyed up a shot from where he floated and then fired a small KI blast at one of the guards knocking him out cold and then did the same to the other. With a grin he dropped down and landed on the boat.  
  
Looking over both guards he realized they were both taller than him but not by much. Quickly he undressed the one and put his clothes and hat on and then put his clothes on the guard. Then he turned to the other guard, picked him up, and took him down below. Quickly he tied the guard up, gaged him, and locked him into a closet. He then moved back upstairs to where the other guard lay and cuffed his hands and legs. Then he placed a hand on his head and tried something.  
  
Back on Namek he'd been able to pull thoughts from Krillin's mind, here he was trying to make sure this guard would stay out for a while. /Yep, he's out for a good few hours./ Goku picked him up and sat him down on the chair and then moved to the controls. /Okay, Goku, how does this work?/ he wondered scratching the back of his head. He returned to the guard and read his mind again, this time he searched for how to work the boat. "Oh, that's easy enough." Goku said triumphantly.  
  
Moving back to the controls he steered the boat toward the island with the statue and drove toward it. A few moments later he was pulling into a dock with several other guards coming down to meet him. "What's going on?" one of them asked.  
  
"Well..." Goku said turning to look at the guard in his clothes. "This guy just... fell from the sky."  
  
The two guards looked at each other and then back at Goku. "Where's your partner, and what's your name? You don't look familiar."  
  
"Partner is off sick." Goku said the first thing that came to mind. He opened his mouth to say his name and then realized the others said his name was unusual here. He paused for a moment and then gave the first name that came to mind. "And I'm Charles."  
  
The two guards nodded, they seemed content with his answers. "Well Charles, this guy has the same clothes as two of the others. You'll probably get a bonus for this, lucky bum."  
  
"Others?" Goku asked.  
  
"Yeah, from the assault on the Mutant base in Alaska. Fury had them moved down to level X." The guard dug through his pocket and produced a card. "Here, this will get you down to that level."  
  
Goku took the card, lifted the guard over his shoulder, and climbed out of the boat. "What's your names? I'll tell them you helped me get this guy under control."  
  
The guards grinned. "Max Simmons and Lionel Masters." one of them said.  
  
With a nod Goku walked off along the dock whistling. /I don't know what Bulma was talking about, I come up with some good ideas now and then./ He frowned as he remembered how badly the whole Buu incident had gone. /Well, some better than others./  
  
He walked calmly past the guards at the front gates with just a quick nod and entered the main lobby of the statue. Along all three walls were several elevators and in the middle of the room was a desk with a guard. He cast a glance about him and frowned. /Now how do I get to level X?/ he wondered scratching his head. With a sigh he moved over to the desk with the guard. "I'm supposed to take this guy down to level X."  
  
"Clearance?"  
  
"Um..." Goku picked up the card and showed it to the guard.  
  
The guard nodded and pointed over to an elevator in the back that was painted white. "I'll unlock the door."  
  
"Thanks." Goku said walking past the desk. As he neared the elevator the doors hissed open. Whistling again he entered and turned around. There were only two buttons, one marked L and one marked X so he pushed the X. The doors hissed and closed with a click and the elevator began to descend. As he went down a purple light flashed on a few times quickly within the elevator and he frowned. /What was that?/  
  
After a moment he shrugged, nothing else had happened so it didn't matter. He waited, leaning against the wall, for several minutes as the elevator descended. Finally he felt it slowing and then stopping. A second later the doors hissed open again and he stepped out into a large room, his eyes going wide.  
  
Along the walls were several tanks full of green liquid. Floating in each tank was a different person with tubes and wires coming from them and different fluids moving in and out of the tubes. All of the tubes from the tanks were linked to another tank in the center of the room. This one was much larger than the others and filled with a dark blue liquid.  
  
Floting in this tank was a young woman who looked no older than eigtheen, possibly even younger. She had short black hair, dark tan skin, and was wearing a dark maroon dress. Her wrists and ankles were shackled and chained to the top and bottom of the tank and several tubes were attatched to her body as well. Her eyes were closed so he couldn't tell what color they were. But he could tell that whatever was going on it was all linked to the girl in the middle tank.  
  
Goku managed to turn his eyes away from her and scanned the other tanks again. His eyes widened once more as he spotted the others in some of the tanks and hooked up to the tubes. /Gohan, Goten, Videl, Trunks, Piccolo, Jean, Kurt, and Wolverine. Man, they got almost everyone, didn't they? Well, let's get you guys out of here./  
  
Goku laid the guard down and looked over to the tanks where his friends were. Only a few of the techs and guards even noticed him as he pulled his arms back. But they all noticed him as he thrust them forward with a cry and a flash of blue. The energy blast shot out and smashed into the tanks destroying them easily.  
  
The fluid spilled out across the floor as the unconcious people fell free, the wires and tubes pulling out as they did. Goku jerked as a loud crack sounded out and a bullet slammed into the wall behind him. In a flash he transformed to the third level and the bullets that followed the first merely bounced off of him. He stood there watching them for a moment hoping the others would wake up soon, and then another thought came to him.  
  
With a smile he fired off energy blasts at the other tanks as well. Within seconds all the tanks around the room were shattered and empty. He then turned his arm toward the tank in the middle of the room. Instantly the gunfire stopped and the guards pulled back. As a ball of energy formed at the end of Goku's outstretched arm many of the guards turned and ran. With a crack the ball of KI shot forward and shattered the glass.  
  
The blue liquid flowed free of the tank and spilled out across the ground. Instantly sirens began to wail throughout the entire compound as the wires attatched to the girl snapped and the tubes pulled free. Goku saw Gohan climbing to his feet as the others began to come to as well and the girl's tank emptied completely, the chains the only things holding her up. "Gohan, Piccolo!" Goku yelled over the siren for the only two fully concious.  
  
Looking up they saw him and his odd clothing and both smiled. "Alright dad!" Gohan cheered as he started helping the others wake up and stand. Goku moved over to them and in a matter of moments they were all awake. "So, how do we get out?"  
  
"Er... well, I didn't think that far ahead." Goku said scratching the back of his head.  
  
"What the..." Jean said, barely a whisper. The others turned to see what she was looking at. The girl in the center tank was now standing and supporting herself. Her hands gripped the chains that held her within the tank and her eyes were open. Instead of whites to her eyes they were pitch black. Her pupils looked like little red lights floating in pools of darkness. Her face had a look of rage and hatred. Suddenly she yanked her arms and the chains snapped where they connected to her wrists.  
  
With a jerk of each leg she shattered those restraints as well. She floated lightly into the air still glaring daggers across at the people before her. "Mutants..." she breathed. "Humans..." Her eyes roved over them all. "You must die." Her voice sent a chill down the backs of the others. With a scream she threw her head and arms back and the entire building began to shake. 


	11. The End is Near

Adrift 11 - The End is Near

Krillin flopped down onto the couch and stared up at the ceiling. He and Tien had emerged from the gravity room just as Yamcha and Vegeta had finished up the story of the fight against Buu. "I wish Goku were here... Or Gohan even." he said with a sigh. "I'd feel a lot better with the two of them around." Nervously he fingered the small bag of Senzu's tied to his waist.

"I know how you feel." Tien said leaning against the wall. "This would be a lot easier with them around. But we'll just have to handle this ourselves."

Suddenly an explosion shook the building. They all looked at each other for a second and then ran out into the streets. Floating up in the sky were Android 17 and Android 18. Both of them had KI blasts charged in their hands and aimed toward the ground. In a flash they fired again and two more large explosions shook the entire city. "What the hell are they doing!?" Vegeta cried.

"Maybe they found Bastion?" Krillin wondered.

"Then why are they shooting at random?" Vegeta demanded. In a flash of gold he transformed and shot up toward them. He landed a hard right hook to 17 knocking him back and drawing their attention. 18 redirected her aim and fired her charged KI blasts at Vegeta and fired but he just shrugged them off. "Have you two lost it?!" he demanded.

The two Androids looked at him and grinned as Buu, Tien, Krillin, and Yamcha joined him. Suddenly the purple energy field from before formed around the city and the powers of Vegeta and Buu plummeted. As they did three new forms floated into the air. Vegeta recognized the one as Bastion, his arm repaired. The others he didn't know. "What the hell?"

Bastion grinned. "Like my new allies?" he asked. "Androids 17, 18, 23, and 27." he motioned toward each of them as he spoke. Then he looked at them. "You four deal with these pests, I have Mutants to locate."

"What about Goku?" 27 asked.

Vegeta smirked. "Sorry, Kakkarotto's in his dimension at the moment. But don't worry..." there was another flash of gold as he ascended to the second level. "I'll destroy you for him." With a cry he shot in at 27 but she simply backhanded him away. He was knocked a good three hundred yards before he managed to stop. As he did he spied one of the large Prime Sentinels below him and grinned.

Thrusting a hand down at it he charged energy in front of his palm and was about to blast it when 23 smashed a massive hand into the back of his head knocking him forward and into a kick from 27. He growled and fried blasts of gold KI at them. 23 brought his arms up to block and was only driven back a couple feet but it didn't even phase 27. /Damn it! If it weren't for this damn energy field I could turn these two into scrap!/

Back where the others were Bastion had already dropped to the ground and was heading to the area Vegeta had come from. Meanwhile Buu was fighting both 17 and 18. He was having more luck than Vegeta but not much. Suddenly the two Androids jammed his head between their legs smushing it. Buu left out a small cry and his head popped back out to normal and a shockwave pushed the Androids away from him.

"18! Come on 18, what's wrong! Why are you attacking us!" Krillin called to her. But she seemed to ignore him as her and her brother launched in to attack Buu again.

"Something's not right..." Yamcha said watching them fight.

Tien nodded. "I bet Bastion did something somehow. Speaking of which, where'd he go?"

"Storm and the others!" Krillin cried turning around. "We have to try and help them!" The other two Humans nodded and shot toward Capsule Corp. once more as a bright flash of red lit up the streets. As they landed they found Strom and Cyclops standing at one end of the street and Bastion at the other. The machine was holding two more red KI blasts in his hands and grinning.

That's when Yamcha spotted the other two girls over by the Capsule Corp building. Kitty was lying on the ground and Rogue was kneeling over her. The Human could tell that her KI was gone. "She... she's dead..." he said as he turned his eyes from her to Bastion.

The Android grinned. "Yes. One down and four to go."

Tien suddenly launched in at Bastion, a white aura flaring up around him. Bastion didn't move as the Tri-clops reached him and slammed a fist into his face to zero effect. Tien frowned, floated back a bit, and then slammed a spinning snap kick into his head still to no effect. Bastion smirked as he raised his left arm and pointed the energy blast at Tien's face. The Human began to move back but wasn't fast enough and the blast slammed into him and flung him down the street several miles before he slammed into the ground and gouged out a trench for another hundred yards.

While Tien had distracted him Krillin had charged a Destructo Disc above each arm. With a shout he pitched them at Bastion. The machine raised its arms and energy enveloped them. When the discs hit there were shattered and he was left un-harmed. Yamcha swallowed and took a step back. "Oh man... how do we win?!"

"You don't." Bastion answered walking toward them.

"Go!" Storm yelled. "Get out of here! It's us he's after, save yourselves!"

"No!" Krillin answered shaking his head. "We have to try! We can't just let him kill you!"

"And we wont!" Tien shouted from high up in the sky. "Move back Krillin!"

The short Human looked up and saw the other floating there. His hands were in a triangle shape and golden energy was sparking between them. His entire body was pulsing with energy and his veins stood out across his arms and chest. Krillin's eyes widened in shock as Tien's power pulsed up notch by notch, higher and higher. The golden energy between his hands shifted colors to red and still the power climbed.

Krillin nodded and shot back grabbing both Cyclops and Storm as he did. Yamcha flew over and grabbed Rogue and took off with her as she protested leaving Kitty's body behind. The small group landed several hundred yards away and looked back toward the battle. Tien was little more than a pulsing gold and red light now.

"Th-that's amazing!" Yamcha cried wide eyed. "His power... it's... it's a hundred times greater than before! He has to be even stronger than 18 now!"

Krillin shook his head. "Not him, his attack. He's pushing everything into one attack!"

A second later Tien's voice cried out. "Super Tri-beam Fire!" There was a blindingly brilliant flash of gold and red and a massive explosion that rocked the entire planet. It took several moments for the glare to fade enough for them to see. Tien had focused the attack down to a narrow enough beam that it had left the buildings undamaged but had cut large hole down into the street. The hole was so deep they couldn't see the bottom.

"He... he did it!" Yamcha cheered. "In-incredible!"

Tien floated there panting heavily and swaying slightly. Krillin quickly flew over to him and held him up. He'd spent himself on that attack and barely had the energy to even stand now, let alone fly. The short Human helped his friend over to where the others were and landed. "That was amazing Tien!" Krillin said as they touched down.

"Thanks... but I think I over did... it..." His eyes closed and he toppled over onto the street as he passed out. "Tien!" Krillin cried kneeling down beside him. "Good... he's still alive. Just out cold. Sleep well Tien, you did great."

Rogue sat down on the sidewalk and started crying as Storm tried to calm her down.

Vegeta, on the other hand, wasn't having as much luck. The Sai-jin Prince had quickly become a Sai-jin Punching bag for the two Androids. Now and then he'd get a good hit against the large 23 but 27 was always blocked or dodged. Suddenly a hard left hook from her sent him down into the street with a thunderous crash.

Groaning he pulled himself slowly back to his feet and glared up at the two Androids. His eyes snapped wide in shock at the sudden bursts of power he felt coming from Tien. The two Androids turned to watch as well as a blinding flash lit up the city. And then Tien's power dipped extremely low. /Who did he attack? The other Androids or Bastion?/

27 turned her attention back down to Vegeta. "So, this is the Mighty Sai-jin Prince. You aren't so strong."

"Turn off this energy field and I'll show you just how strong I am!" he yelled up with a growl and then charged back up at them once more. He swung a hard left kick for 27's head which connected with a resounding crack but did nothing. He was about to throw a punch when a crack sounded from behind him and he turned to look. He found the Supreme Kai floating there with his foot outstretched and 23 plummeting toward the ground from a surprise attack.

"Sorry I'm late Vegeta." he said. "I was held up in the H.F.I.L. again."

"You're power.... it's been cut too! Damn it!"

Shin nodded. "Yes, and even with my full power I'd still be no match for Bastion. At least, by my estimates. He's at least as powerful as the original Majin Buu."

"What! How the hell? He was weaker than that before!"

"Upgraded by Dr. Gero's computer. I didn't see it happen or I'd have stepped in and stopped it."

"Well you're far to late now." 27 said as 23 floated back up into the air. "23, it's time to put an end to this." she said floating over beside him. "Vegeta's boring me." Vegeta growled but suddenly the two Androids shot forward and smashed their fists into his face with a loud crack knocking him backwards. As he fell down into the city one more his golden aura vanished and his hair went black. Before Shin could react the Androids had turned to him and sent him sailing after Vegeta.

Buu was having the best luck of them all. 17 and 18 had gotten in a lot of good hits but so had he. Their battle could have gone on forever, the two Androids weren't doing enough damage in a single blow for it to accumulate. None of them would ever run out of energy. But as Buu felt Tien's power drop as well as Vegeta's and Shin's he decided there was one easy way of ending the fight.

He stopped attacking and just floated in the sky. 17 and 18 moved to either side of him and waited. Still Buu did not move. And then they charged him at top speed. Buu didn't bother to move or block as their fists smashed into his sides. And were then pulled into his body. The Androids eyes went wide as they were both absorbed. Once fully in his body it began to ripple and shift. He got thinner, 17's scarf formed around his neck, and 18's denim jacket appeared on him as well. "Buu win!" he cried happily and grinning. He then turned to find where the others were.

Krillin turned and looked as he felt a power nearing quickly, even though it was dropping as it did. And then went wide eyed as Vegeta came falling out of the sky and slammed into him knocking him back into a building. As he pulled himself out from under him Shin landed head first in the street. Unlike Vegeta however he was still conscious and began pulling himself to his feet. Krillin emerged from the building just as Shin reached his feet.

Shin turned to look at Krillin. "Where is Bastion?"

"Huh? Oh, Tien took him out with this really powerful Tri-beam! It was amazing!"

Shin shook his head as he looked toward Capsule Corp. "No, Bastion is far to powerful to have been destroyed by an attack of that level."

"A-are you sure?" Yamcha asked to which Shin nodded.

There was a groan as Tien pulled himself to his feet again. Krillin moved over to him and handed him a Senzu which he gratefully took and ate. Glancing back into the building he hope Vegeta would come to soon, he couldn't eat a Senzu while unconscious. "Don't worry about that." Shin said moving into the building having sensed his thoughts. He knelt down beside Vegeta and quickly healed him. In moments he was on his feet again.

As the two emerged onto the street once more Buu landed. "What... happened to him?" Cyclops asked.

"Buu absorb 17 and 18." he said proudly.

"Never mind that." Vegeta said. He could tell Buu's power had gone up with the addition of the Androids but doubted it'd be enough to handle the new Androids, or the new Bastion. "How do we beat these new Androids and Bastion?" His eyes were looking down the street toward where Bastion no doubt still was.

Shin stood there thinking, not really sure what to do. He looked over the small group wish there were more of them, or that Goku and Gohan were around. Even Goten and Trunks would be helpful if they fused... /That's it!/ Shin's mind cried. "Fusion!" he said looking at the group.

"Fusion? No one here is close enough in power." Vegeta replied.

Shin shook his head as he removed his earrings. "Doesn't matter with these." he said. "But you're wrong anyway Vegeta. You're forgetting, with this field up you're power is reduced. But theirs is not." he nodded toward the Humans. "You and Tien are quite close in power."

"Us, fuse?" Tien asked looking over to Vegeta.

"If you want to survive this day..." Shin said softly.

The two warriors stared at each other for a long moment. The Earrings were permanent, they both knew it. It was Yamcha that broke the silence with a cry. "Bastion!" Everyone turned to look. Sure enough Bastion was now floating above the hole in the street.

"Damn, give me that earring!" Vegeta demanded holding out a hand. Shin handed it over and then turned to Tien and found the Human's hand held out as well. As he took the Potara he looked over to Vegeta again. He'd never expected to fuse this man, hell, he'd never expected him to have survived his first fight with Goku. As two people landed with soft clicks behind them, the two Androids Vegeta had been fighting, they put the earrings on.

Instantly their bodies were pulled together and in a bright flash of blue they were fused. When the light faded it revealed a single warrior. He wore Vegeta's blue body suit over Tien's white shirt. He looked a lot like Vegeta, even had his hair, but also had Tien's eyes, including the third one. "Alright, it's time to put an end to you Bastion." He said looking at the Machine. His voice was a perfect blend of Tien and Vegeta. Not the double voice Vegetto had had but one solid and smooth voice.

"What the hell?" Bastion asked looking at him. "What are you?"

The Fusion smirked making him look even more like Vegeta. "I am your end, your destruction! I am Vegeten!" His smirked broadened. "Or should I say... Super Vegeten!" And in a flash of gold he transformed to the second level. "And now you die!" Vegeten shot in at Bastion leaving a trail of gold behind him. 


	12. Death Unleased

Chapter 12 - Death Unleashed

There was a puff of smoke and a small gathering of people appeared in the middle of the sidewalk. The people around them watched on in fear in shook but these individuals were staring intently across the water. They could see the mighty statue in the bay vibrating and shaking already and knew it would only get worse. Goku swallowed as the tremmors reached his feet. "I've never... never felt anything like this before...." he breathed.

Piccolo nodded. "It's... unreal..."

"She's not that strong..." Trunks said crossing his arms.

"Compared to our current levels..." Gohan began. "She's a god." He swallowed now too as a couple of bystanders began to lose their balance. "But that's not the point... her power... it's not normal... I can.... feel..."

"Evil." Jean said. "Darkness. Anger. Hatred. She is everything her creators wanted her to be. She is the end of Mutant kind... and if she has her way... the end of Humanity as well."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Wolverine growled.

Piccolo glanced over to him. "No offense, but you wouldn't survive a minute against her. Even with your healing powers." He turned his eyes back across to the Statue of Liberty and clenched his jaw. "I'm not sure how long any of us will last..." As he finished speaking a stream of dark purple and black energy broke free of the water and sped into the sky. A second later another stream of energy broke free as well, and then another and another.

Those who couldn't fly soon fell over from the ferocity of the tremors. Now they could hear her echoing screams again. They could hear laced in those screams the same anger and hatred they could feel in her power. "Oh, shit!" Piccolo cried taking a step back. The water around the statue began to churn and bubble as the ground shook with greater intensity. "Kurt, get us out of the city, now!" he yelled.

"But I told you...."

"Takes us up into the air then, we'll carry you afterwards, but we have to go, now!"

Kurt nodded and they all touched. There was a puff of smoke and they vanished. A moment later they appeared again nearly a mile in the air and outside of Manhattan. Jean grabbed hold of Kurt, Goku held Hank, and Piccolo had hold of Wolverine. Down below them they could see a dark purple glow filling the entirety of New York Harbour. "Oh man..." Kurt said looking.

And then blue energy began to crackle across the surface of the water. The energy built greater and greater, brighter and brighter. And then there was a loud crack, a brilliant flash, and the energy exploded savagely. The people in the air had to look away as the force gusted past them. When they looked back there was nothing of the city that had been below them. All that existed was a large crater.

And then a large ball of fire surged up from below faster than they could react. There was a loud split second scream and then silence. The warriors turned and watched in horror as Videl's still burning body fell toward the Earth. Gohan's eyes went wide as he watched her fall. He was still frozen as she hit the ground. It wasn't until he heard Goku's voice that he came to again.

"Go, get out of here, now!" Goku cried. Kurt grabbed Wolverine and Hank and the four X-men vanished. As they did Gohan turned and looked toward the center of the crater. With a scream of rage and a blast of gold he shot down toward the ground. "Gohan, no!"

It only took the teen a moment to reach the young woman. He swung at her with all of his might and she slipped the punch like it was nothing. Faster than he could see, her left arm shot up and slammed into his stomach. He floated there on her fist for a moment and then she lowered it. Smirking she suddenly back handed him with a thunderous crack. Gohan fell to the ground, his golden aura fading into nothing.

"Fool." she said looking at him. "I am Morana... I am DEATH!" she moved to slam her foot into Gohan's head but a blast of golden energy slammed into her head distracting her.

"No!" Goku cried as he and the others charged down toward her. "I wont let you!" There were dual flashes of gold as both Goku and Gotenks ascended to the third level. The two Sai-jins and the Namek reached her together and began to swing at her with everything they had. She swerved, ducked, and dodged without much effort. The three of them couldn't even get close to hitting her.

Suddenly her dark pools of eyes flashed a bright red and the three were flung away from her violently. By the time they'd regained control of themselves and looked again, Morana was gone. "What, hey, where'd she go!?" Gotenks cried looking around. Suddenly the ground began to shake and rocks to lift out of the crater and launch toward the warriors. Within seconds it was though they were in the middle of a meteor shower.

The three warriors swatted away the rocks with ease however. After a moment Piccolo shot up above them and looked around again. Looking up he smirked as he saw Morana floating there, an unusual pulsing black and dark purple aura surrounding her. With a grunt he thrust an arm up at her and it extended skyward until it gripped her face. He smirked and began to charge energy around his hand to blast her when suddenly his hand passed right through her.

Morana desceneded down along the length of his arm as though one or the other wasn't even really there. He stared on in shock and in seconds she reached him and smashed her fist into his jaw sending him crashing into the ground. The flying rocks stopped as he pulled himself up and looked up at her again. Morana smirked as she folded her arms across her chest. Bone spikes suddenly jutted out of her arm and fired down at the Namek. Piccolo raised his arms and blocked them but they'd been fired with such force that they pierced his arms and lodged themselves there.

Gotenks and Goku lunged up at Morana again as she uncrossed her arms. She pointed an arm down at each of them and grinned. "DIE!" she shouted launching streams of fire toward the nearing Sai-jins. Gotenks managed to dodge without harm but the flames licked at Goku and shredded the top of the guard clothes he still wore and seared his body. He was about to charge up at her again when a loud 'whooshing' sound like something flying quickly reached his ears.

Turning to look he saw a large steel beam flying through the air. Morana didn't notice and it smashed into her back and jamed her down into the ground. Goku looked up from where she'd landed to the source of the voice that spoke. "I don't know who you are, but you looked like you could use some help." The man wore a red and purple outfit with a red helmet and a purple cape. Slowly he floated down to join the two Sai-jins. Piccolo floated up to join them as he finished removing the spikes from his arms.

"Goku, now, while she's down." Piccolo said looking down at her again.

"Right. Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...." He called out cupping his hands at his side. Gotenks soon followed while Piccolo merely clenched his fists and charged energy about them. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The three warriors thrust their arms toward the Earth and fired. Two streams of blue and one of orange surged down and slammed into the prone Morana with a thunderous explosion.

The rush of wind drove them back a bit and they stared down through the dust. A second later the steel beam surged up at them from below and they had to slip around it. "Magneto!" Morana yelled from below as she floated up out of dust. She began laughing madly as she saw him. After a moment she locked her eyes on him and grinned insanely. "Magneto...." she breathed.

She reached her arms out to her sides and turned her palms up toward the sky. She bowed her head down and crossed her ankles. There was a spark at her feet and then her entire body was engulfed in blue white flames. "BURN!" she cried suddenly thrusting her arms forward. The burning flame surged toward the warriors and they dodged quickly. She began arcing through the air chasing one and then the other and sending balls of flame after them, laughing the entire time.

Suddenly the flame about her left hand vanished and was replaced by a blue glow. Her hand shot out and a stream of ice surged toward Gotenks. The Fusion wasn't fast enough this time and within seconds he was completely incased in ice and fell toward the ground. Morana smirked and turned toward Piccolo. She was about to launch a stream of ice at him as well when suddenly her body froze.

She growled as she struggled to move, her motions slow as though underwater. Turning she saw Magneto floating just below and behind her, his arms outstretched. "Let... go... of... me!" she hissed. The Mutant merely grinned and began to spread his arms apart trying to rip her in half. With a cry her eyes flashed blue and a telekenetic blast slammed into Magneto driving him backward a bit but he held his ground.

"I've seen your files!" Magneto called up. "Genetically engineered Mutant DNA grafted to a metal frame, a skeleton if you will. That is your flaw, for I command metal and therefore I command you!"

"NEVER!" Morana roared throwing her head and arms back. "I obey no one!" There was a flash of blue and suddenly Magento was flung backwards, his hold on her broken. Lowering her head she smirked at him. "Poor pathetic Magneto..." she said slowly. "You've been dethroned... there is a new Master of Magnetisim now." She reached out a hand and Magneto was frozen in place. With a flick of her wrist she flung him into one of the few remaining standing buildings at the edge of the crater almost a mile away.

"Special Beam Cannon!" Piccolo roared thrusting his arm toward Morana and firing the attack point blank into the back of her head. Her eyes widened in shock as the beam tore clean through her skull and sped off into the distance. It dragged her body with it for several dozen yards before letting her go and she fell twoard the ground leaving a trail of blood in her wake. A moment later she hit the ground with a dull thud.

Piccolo lowered his arm and gazed down at her shaking his head as Goku and Magento joined him. "Such a shame..." he said. "To be created out of hatred and to know only hatred..." None of them heard the small news chopper flying at the edge of the crater filming them. "How could any world ever become so consumed with hatred?" He looked over as Kurt suddenly teleported in again with Jean, Hank, and Wolverine. Kurt complaining that they'd missed the action.

Magneto looked at the other Mutants for a moment and then back down at Morana's body. "Humans fear what they do not understand." he replied. "And they fear what they can not control. In turn they hate what they fear." He crossed his arms. "The only way for us to ever be truely safe is for them to be destroyed..."

Piccolo snorted. "Violence only breeds more violence." he said turning to face him. "Hatred creates more hatred. Just look down there at her. Keep feeding the hatred and eventually it'll consume you."

Magneto turned and glared at Piccolo. "And just who are you anyway? I've never seen any of you before."

"We're not from around here... we come from a different world."

"Then what do you know of ours!?"

Piccolo returned Magento's firery glare. "I know that hatred nearly destroyed me. That it nearly obliterated my people. That it destroyed my world... both of my worlds. I've dealt with the hatred of others directed at one group or person or another my entire life. Your hatred, their hatred, all it does feed on itself, grow stronger, and eventually it'll destroy you all if you let it. And not just you but everyone. This entire planet. Including those who are innocent, who are not involved in your little school yard spitting cont..."

"I've been hated my entire life. If it's not one reason it's another. The Humans have persecuted me without cause one time to many. If it is a war that they desire who am I to deny them?"

"Who indeed?" a voice called up from below laughing. The three floating warriors looked down to find Morana gazing up at them, her eyes glowing firecely and a look of hatred, defiance, and contempt etched on her face. She smirked at the looks of shock and fear on their faces. "Did you really think I would die so easily as that?" She began lauging isanely again throwing her head back and flexing her powers. Fire sparked about her, the ground shook, and energy crackled around her.

"FOOLS!" she shouted suddenly, the laughing ceasing. "I AM DEATH! I AM ETERNAL! All who oppose me shall DIE!" 


	13. Vegeten Strikes!

Chapter 13 - Vegeten Strikes!

Vegeten reached the shocked Bastion quickly and smashed a fist into his face sending him sailing down the street. The three eyed fusion launched after him quickly, his power tearing up the asphalt of the streets as he did. Bastion still hadn't recovered by the time Vegeten reached him and the Fusion tore into him. A hard spinning right kick to Bastion's head sent him crashing through several buildings and towards the edge of the city.

Shin turned toward the other two Androids and frowned. And then, he had a plan. "Buu, you stay here and fight them." he ordered. "Krillin and I are going to track down those Sentinels. Yamcha, you take these three up to the lookout, quickly."

"Right." Yamcha said nodding and grabbing Rogue and Scott. Storm climbed onto his back as he shot up into the air. Buu grinned and launched up as he saw 27 try and follow them and slammed head first into her stomach. As she turned and began fighting with Buu, 23 shot in and joined the battle as well. Meanwhile Krillin and Shin took off in seperate directions down the streets.

Vegeten arced up through the air and smashed his foot into Bastion's chest slamming him through a sky scraper and out the back side. He then launched a punch at his face but the machine managed to block at last and they began to exchange blows high in the sky. "Damn, who the hell? And how are you able to match me!"

"I told you, I'm Vegeten!" the Fusion cried slamming a fist into the machine's face and smashing him down into the city streets. "And just you wait until this field is gone, then I'll do more than match you!" he cried surging down toward the ground. He swung a hard left punch down at him but Bastion rolled out of the way and the Fusion's fist smashed into the pavement instead.

There was a thunderous crack as Bastion slammed a foot into his face knocking him down the street. After a few blocks he fell and slid along the road until coming to a rest against a light pole. Shaking his head, he climbed back to his feet and looked as he saw Bastion walking slowly toward him. Suddenly the energy field around them flickered and shrank. Vegeten smirked. "One down, three to go." /I just wish I could get out of this city, I wouldn't have to wait then. But Bastion would never give me the time.../ The Fusion's smirk broadened as the field flickered and shrank a second time. "Correction, two down, two to go."

"Well you wont live that long!" Bastion cried barreling down the road.

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Buu slipped around 23's punches fairly easily but was having a little more trouble with 27. Just as he blocked a punch from the female android, the large red one came in and smashed a fist into the back of his head. Buu stumbled forward a bit but soon recovered and backhanded him hard. He then turned and kicked him in the stomach and then gave him an uppercut in the jaw. "Time for Buu to make you go bye-bye!" Buu cheered thrusting his arms forward. "Bye-bye!" There was a brilliant flash of pink and the energy engulfed and incinerated 23.

Buu then turned to try and find 27. The female android was nowhere to be seen. "Where you go?" Buu wondered looking around. Suddenly the glow that already filled the air from the energy fields started shifting to red. Looking up Buu saw 27 floating above him, arms stretched downward, and charging energy. In a flash of pink Buu surged up into the sky toward 27. The android smirked as she unleashed the energy.

The stream of red surged down through the sky and slammed into Buu head on driving him down into the city. The energy built up into a dome quickly and then exploded violently destroying several blocks in an instant. 27 smirked as the smoke and dust began to settle and she gazed down into the crater she'd formed. "And that's the end of the living gum wad." she said smirking. She was just about to go track down the others when a pink stream of energy surged up into the air and slammed into her sending her spinning.

When she recovered, she looked down again and saw Buu reforming. A moment later his arms and legs shot out of his body and grinned lauhging up at her. "Buu still here! Buu still here!" he cheered. "But now Buu make you go bye-bye too!" With that he launched back up into the air at her once more.

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Krillin pressed up against the building and peeked carefully around the corner. /There it is./ he thought with a small grin. /Prime Sentinel number two. You're going down!/ Pulling his head back around the corner he took a deep breath. He didn't want a repeat of the last one he'd found, these things were a good deal stronger than him. The kick the last one gave him probably cracked a rib or two, so he wasn't going to let that happen again.

Silently he raised an arm above his head and channeled the needed energy. In moments he had a whirling disc of gold above his head. Stepping out from his hiding place, he turned toward the machine. "Alright, here goes! Descructo Disc!" he shouted pitching it forward. The large Sentinel turned toward the sound but was not quick enough and the disc cut through it's midsection. A moment later it exploded and the field around Krillin vanished.

"Yeah!" he cried pumping a fist into the air. "Now once the Supreme Kai gets that last one Vegeten can finish off that Bastion guy!" Krillin shot up into the air and looked around just in time to see Buu obliterate 27. He had to shield his eyes from the attack the remaining android used on Buu. "Oh man... That's not good..." He raised his arm and was about to try and land a sneak attack Destructo Disc when the pink energy blast slammed into 27. "Alright!" he cheered hearing Buu. An instant later the pink creature surged into the air.

Buu was still several feet away from 27 when an explosion sounded in the distance and the energy field over the city vanished completely. A second later Buu's pink fist smashed into and through 27's head shattering it completely. Her body floated there for a moment and then fell to the ground with a dull thud. Buu looked down at his hand for a moment and then around him realizing the energy field was down. He'd not expected his fist to go right through her head like that... Finally he shrugged and looked around.

"Buu, over here!" Krillin called waving. Turning the pink creature flew over to him. "Right, now we just find..." He stopped as a massive explosion lit up the sky to a blinding purple.

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Vegeten crossed his arms in front of him and blocked Bastion's punch. The Fusion counted with a knee to the machine's head and then a punch to his stomach. Floating back slightly he then spun around and backhanded him before kicking him up into the sky. In a burst of gold he shot up after him but Bastion slipped the next punch and slammed his knee into the Fusion's gut doubling him over.

As Vegeten was recovering he noticed the field shrink considerably once more. Now there were only a few dozen feet from the edge. /I can get him out now!/ he thought with a grin. He pulled his arms back quickly and then thrust them forward sending a shock wave of energy at Bastion that knocked him flying backwards. Instantly he shot after him and began to pound into him, knocking him closer and closer to the field's edge.

One last hard kick knocked him clear of the suppression field and Vegeten charged after him. Emerging on the other side he instantly felt his power sky rocket. "Oh ya, time to end this!" he cried shooting toward the sky. Bastion regained control of his movements and looked up to find Vegeten's hands cupped before him and purple energy charging between his hands. "Sayonora Bastion! Tri-Galick Gun!"

As the energy between Vegeten's hands sparked and exploded toward Bastion the energy field vanished completely. The energy slammed into the Machine and drove him down into the Earth. It seemed as though the sky darkened for a moment and then a violent explosion rocked the city destroying several blocks. "Oh ya, I so rock." Vegeten grinned crossing his arms and powering down. As he landed in the crater he'd formed, he stepped on Bastion's badly damaged head and smashed it completely.

"That's the end of them then." Shin said landing in the crater as well, Buu and Krillin at his side.

Seeing the new Buu, Vegeten cocked an eye brow. "What's with the look?"

Buu looked down at himself and then laughed. "Buu forgot." he said looking up. His body began to pulse and flux and then 17 and 18 emerged and fell. Krillin ran over quickly and caught 18 before she hit the ground. "There, Buu normal now."

"Now me." Vegeten said walking over.

"Huh?"

"Absorb me, it'll nullify this stupid Fusion."

"Oh!" Buu cheered. A few moments later Buu spat out a normal Vegeta and Tien. "There you go, all better now!"

Tien nodded. "Come on, let's get to the lookout." he said glancing around. "We've got one heck of a mess to clean up." 


	14. The Waiting Arms of Oblivion

Chapter Fourteen - The Waiting Arms of Oblivion

"FOOLS!" she shouted suddenly, the laughing ceasing. "I AM DEATH! I AM ETERNAL! All who oppose me shall DIE!" As her scream echoed over the decimated landscape she launched into the air leaving a trail of electricity, fire, and darkness in her wake. Goku slipped backward a little but wasn't fast enough as her fist smashed into his face with a blast of electricity and rocketed him into the sky.

Back down on the ground Gohan began to stir, the rocks covering him rolling off again. He stood slowly holding his head and looked up at the battle. Piccolo and Magneto had moved in to help Goku and the three were doing what they could against Morana. Then he saw Jean float up as well and stretch her arms out and up toward them. "You okay?" Hank asked walking over to where Gohan now stood.

"Yeah, I just..." he shook his head. "She killed Videl and I lost my head for a minute." Looking around he saw the frozen Gotenks and moved over quickly firing a stream of Ki and thawing him out. 

The Fusion stood shivering, his teeth chattering. "Oh man... that's cold... so cold..." he managed. "Go-Gohan! Hey, you're up again!" he cheered, then he turned and saw the ongoing fight. "Oh man..."

Gohan nodded in agreement. Then, suddenly, Morana froze and all three warriors landed solid blows aginst her for a moment. Then, with a flash of red and a scream of rage, she threw her arms and head back again knocking them away. Turning, she glared at Jean and her eyes flashed bright red. Jean let out an ear splitting scream as she grabbed her head. A second later she collapsed to the ground.

Before Morana could turn again Goku and Piccolo slammed their feet into the back of her head and slammed her down into the crater again. Wolverine turned his eyes from Jean and drew his claws with a growl. Instantly he was running across the expanse toward her, reaching her just as she stood. With a grunt he threw an uppercut and jammed his claws into her abdomen lifting her off the ground a few inches.

Her eyes widened in shock for a moment and then she glared at him. "Wretched Mutants!" she roared floating back off his claws, her injury sealing up. "I was designed to destroy you, you can't defeat me! Just give up and DIE!" She thrust her right arm foward and was about to blast him when a loud roar began to sound from the west. Turning, everyone looked to see what was coming. A moment later several glimmering dots became visable. Seconds later it was evident a small army of Sentinels was approaching.

Small being about a hundred of the large machines. A moment later a purple energy field engulfed the crater and Magneto fell to the ground. "Prime Sentinels." he hissed.

"Prime what?" Goku asked.

"This field supresses their powers." Piccolo informed him. "It would seem the Humans have come to deal with their little mess."

As soon as he finished that, a large air ship desceneded from above the clouds blotting out a large portion of the sky. "S.H.I.E.L.D. Head Quarters!" Kurt called in suprise.

"Surrender Morana!" Nick Fury's voice called over a speaker system. "You were created with Mutant DNA, this supressor field affects you as well. We will not allow you to continue in this course, you belong to us."

Goku could tell differently however. Her power had plummeted, cut in half by the field, but she was still powerful. But if he acted quickly he could defeat her before she... As the thought came to him and he turned to attack he found her arm already aimed skyward, red energy tracing about her palm. She snarled and yelled up into the sky. "FURY!" There was a thunderous crack and then the energy tore free of her hand. The stream was more than fifty feet wide as it surged through the air and then slammed into the center of the large air ship, tearing clean through it.

The attack had obviously hit something vital as a chain reaction began within it. A series of explosions rang out, several of them punching through the ship's hull. Suddenly the field around them began to shrink. The control computers for the Sentinels had been destroyed and without Bastion around to take over they were becoming nothing but worthless towers of scrap metal. The air ship began to descend into the crater and the Z Fighters quickly grabbed the still powerless Mutants and launched out of the way.

Coming to a stop at the crater's edge they watched as the ship slammed into the ground with a loud crash. "And so that's it." Magneto said as the field vanished and he floated under his own power to land on the top of a building. The others soon joined him and gazed down into the wreckage. "S.H.I.E.L.D. and Morana are both gone now."

Hank nodded. "Perhaps peace will finally happen."

Logan shook his head. "Too bad Jean wont get to see it."

There was a flash as Goku and Gotenks reverted to base, and then Gotenks split apart into two again, his time up. The small group stood there in silence for a moment just watching the smoking wreck. And then Trunks paled. "Oh man... no way... you have to be kidding me!"

The others glanced at him for a moment as he took a step back and then fell to the ground. Looking back down that's when Piccolo, Goku, and Gohan felt it too. Morana's power was building back up again. 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. As she returned to her full power her screams echoed through the desolate battle field once more. And then, a blinding flash of purple and red flared to life within the remains of the air ship and tore apart half of it. From the explosion Morana emerged once more.

She rolled her head around slowly cracking her neck. Then she turned her gaze toward those she'd been fighting. She didn't have the chance to attack however as the roar of gunfire and flying rockets filled the air. From all around them unseen forces opened fire. Bullets and rockets surged toward her. As the rockets hit, they exploded hiding her from view. The assualt continued for several moments before a cease fire was ordered.

When the smoke cleared it revealed Morana. Unmoved. Unharmed. She ignored the little pests more interested in dealing with the ones she'd been fighting first. As she floated there glaring at them Goku turned to Gohan. "You think you can manage a Fusion Dance?" he asked. "I know you've only ever seen Goten and Trunks do it, never tried yourself, but... we don't have the power to stop her now."

Gohan nodded. "Ya, I can try at least... I just hope it works." The two stepped foward and apart from each other. Slowly they moved through the motions. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuu. Sion. Ha!" Piccolo and the boys watched as their arms moved toward each other and their hands neared.... Goku's were perfect.... Gohan's... however.... were not. There was a spark of light where they touched and they began to phase into each other.

"Oh no!" Goten cried. "They goofed it!"

"Not good." Piccolo growled as the light faded revealing a very fat spikey haired man. "Not good at all."

"Uh-oh." Gokan said looking down at himself.

"What the...." the Mutants breathed.

"Magneto, we need to hold her off for ten minutes! Then they'll de-fuse and be able to try again!" Piccolo said. So far, out of the Mutants, he'd been the only one able to keep up. The Mutant nodded and the two launched in toward Morana once more. Goten and Trunks just looked at each other wishing they could help. 

Suddenly Trunks had an idea and turned to the Mutants. "Hey, you two are close in power!" he said looking at Hank and Wolverine. "I bet you could do a Fusion!"

"That... thing they just did?" Logan asked. He rather didn't like the idea of doing such a ridiculous thing, but if it could help him stop Morana...

"How does such a thing work?" Hank asked.

"We'll teach you!" Goten cheered. "First we have to teach you to use your Ki... You've got plenty of it so it should be easy!"

Out over the crater Piccolo had moved in at close range and was throwing everything he had at Morana but, even with Magneto 'pulling the strings' and slowing her down, he still couldn't land a blow. "Hold still!" he cried. She smirked and stopped moving and his fist cracked into her jaw barely even moving it. Suddenly she smashed her foot into his chin launching him skyward. She shot up after him but Magneto tightened his magnetic grip on her and flung her back down into the ground.

Reaching out with his arms he began to rip parts off of the smashed airship and fling them at her. By the time she'd risen back up and had gotten around his assault, Piccolo was back and smashing his foot into the small of her back. She turned and the two began to trade blows again. Magneto used the time to focus. He gripped the entire structure of the ship with his powers and began to lift it into the air.

Gokan stood watching the fight, not even realizing the boys were teaching the Fusion dance. He felt helpless. He wanted to be in there... /Come on, wear off!/ his mind screamed as Magneto managed to lift the bulky airship. As Piccolo dodged out of the way of Morana's next attack, Magneto hurled the remains of the ship at her. She turned at the last second and reach out her hands gripping it with her own powers. The two then began to battle for control over it.

Morana let out an earsplitting screech and the large ship shook and then tore apart into little pieces. She and Magneto each began flinging them across the sky at each other. After several minutes of this, Morana grabbed a large piece out of the air and held it. There was a spark and it began to glow. "Magneto!" she roared throwing the glowing metal. The Mutant reached out his power to defelect the metal but as soon as his power contacted it, it exploded savagely and flung him backward and through a building. With a grin Morana shot off after him to finish him off. 


	15. A Light in the Darkness

Chapter Fifteen - A Light in the Darkness

"Okay... like this." Goten said moving slowly through the motions of the dance. As he did he saw the look on Logan's face. "I know, it looks strange." Logan merely grunted. The boys had managed to teach them basic Ki control rather quickly. It came easy to Logan due simply to his nature. For Hank it was his strong mind. And the blue furred Mutant was also quite intrigued with this new skill and wondered if, perhaps, the other X-Men could master it as well.

For now though, he was more focused on learning this dance. After the third time through for the boys, Logan and Hank both figured they'd gotten it. They were just about to begin when a loud crack resounded from across the battlefield, and then a bright explosion of orange lit up the distant city ruins across the crater. Another crack sounded and Piccolo came surging across the crater before falling to the ground hard, sliding several yards, and then coming to a rest. 

"Oh man..." Trunks said looking up again. "Piccolo's down! She'll be coming for us next and Gokan still hasn't defused, and it'll take another five minutes before he'll be able to fuse again!"

Hank and Logan glanced at each other and, as Logan swallowed his pride a bit, began the dance. "Fuuuuuuuuu. Sion. Ha!" The two boys turned just in time to see their fingers touch perfectly. They both grinned as the light flared out from their fingers and engulfed them. As it did they felt their powers merge and begin to climb at a very high speed. Their eyes widened as the light faded and the power stablized.

"No... way!" Goten cried. "He's stronger than Gotenks's at level 3!"

The fused Mutant was a rather odd sight for the boys, and now Gokan as well, to look at. Blue fur covered his arms, abs, and feet. His hair was also blue but in Logan's style. His face had the hard determine look of Logan but more resembled Hank's in structure. "Well now, this is very intriging." he said in a very bizarre double voice. It was gruff like Logan's but sounded intelligent like Hank's.

Much to the shock of the boys and Gokan the new fusion leapt out off the building upon which he stood and flew toward where they could feel Morana, a pulsing red aura about him. He reached her before she realized he was coming and landed a hard right hook to her jaw. "Alright, now you fight me!" he said as she spun through the air from the force of the blow. The Fusion spied Magneto imbedded into the side of a building barely concious before turning his eyes back to Morana.

She pulled herself stable in the air and glared at him. "What... who the hell are you?" she snarled.

The Fusion tilted his head to the side slightly and began to scratch his chin in thought. "Well now, that's an interesting question... Who am I? Well... you can call me Hogan."

Morana frowned. "I'd rather just call you dead." She shot toward him and the two began to trade blows quickly. It was obvious the power difference was just enough to give her the edge but it was certainly the most even match-up of the day. The two traded blows working higher into the sky and then passing through the layers of clouds and smoke that hung over the battlefield.

"Mr. Piccolo!" Goten cried suddenly flying down off the building and into the smoking crater, Trunks right behind him. The two boys landed beside Piccolo and started trying to wake him up. "Come on Mr. Piccolo, wake up!" Goten cried. A sound much like a growl escaped Piccolo's lips as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Ugh, she packs a punch." he muttered sitting up and rubbing his head.

"You okay Piccolo?" Gohan asked landing beside him. 

Piccolo nodded and looked skyward as a flash of gold filled the area. Goku had ascended to level three again and was charging back up into battle. "Coming Gohan?"

"Right. Stay here you two." Gohan said to the boys as Piccolo launched skyward. Gohan flashed golden as he ascended to level two and then shot up again as well catching up to Piccolo before reaching the clouds and smoke. "We're not as strong as when we started this." he said glancing over to Piccolo.

The Namek grunted. "And she's still at full power." He shook his head. A second later they pushed into the clouds and then broke out into the daylight on the other side. Piccolo raised an eyebrow as he caught sight of the odd creature that was helping Goku fight Morana but said nothing as he and Gohan moved in to help. The four warriors working together were giving Morana more of a challenge than she expected.

Hogan's foot smashed into her back knocking her forward into a punch from Piccolo while Goku's foot slammed into the side of her head. Gohan moved in and jammed his knee into her stomach doubling her over and then jammed his elbow into her chest knocking her away a few dozen feet. The warriors charged in again but this time she was ready. She slipped to the side swatting away Gohan's punch and then kicking him in the side and then elbowing him in the back knocking him down through the clouds once more.

Goku reached her next but his fist and entire body passed right through her. As he turned around to attack again her foot smashed into his jaw and sent him careening down through the clouds towards the ground as well. She then turned and blocked Hogan's fist with one of her own, the shockwaves tearing a small opening in the clouds below them. Morana raised her arms above her head and then slammed her fists into the top of Hogan's head knocking him down through the opening.

Piccolo came up behind her and shot a fist at the back of her head but she dodged it and turned toward Piccolo, a smirk forming on her face. The look sent a chill down the Namek's spine. He'd not even seen such an evil look on Buu. He was about to attack again when suddenly Morana's fist was thrust toward his face. His eyes widened in shock expecting a sharp impact but none came. Morana's fist merely passed through his head, not actually punching through, merely passing through as though it wasn't there, coming to a stop inside his head.

She floated there for a moment, Piccolo still recovering from the shock. Then, just as he was about to move, her smirk widened. Down below the clouds Gohan was flying back up again with the other two at his side. "No! Piccolo!" Gohan cried pouring on more speed. There was a crack and flash of blue as the energy around Morana's right fist exploded and took Piccolo's head with it splattering her with his blood. She turned slowly to look down at the other three she'd been fighting who'd stopped and were watching in horror as Piccolo's body fell to the ground.

Slowly she raised her arms up above her head as she smirked down at them. The sky began to darken as shadowy black energy gathered above her raised arms. "What is she... doing?" Goku wondered watching the energy gather. It wasn't like any energy he'd ever felt before. Suddenly his eyes widened. He knew why it wasn't like any energy he'd felt before! It wasn't energy! It was pure concentrated darkness... she was drawing the evil around her in for her attack. She was going to make what Piccolo had said earlier come to pass. The world's hatred would destroy it.

Goku glared up at her but didn't launch up to attack. Instead he powered down. "Gohan!" he called over snapping the teen out of his trance like shock. Gohan looked over to him and when he saw his father in base he understood. With a nod he powered down as well. The two kept their eyes on Morana as they moved through the motions. "Fuuuuuuuuuu! Sion! Ha!" This time their fingers met perfectly. White light sparked from their fingertips and then engulfed them turning the two warriors into a large glowing white ball.

Gold energy crackeled around the white glow which was turning blue. And then, as it reached blindingly bright blue, it began to pulse. Down on the ground Goten and Trunks were sheilding their eyes but still trying to watch. "Oh man, this is unbelievable!" Trunks cried in shock. "How is their fusion so powerful!" The blue energy ball pulsed one last time and then exploded showering sparks of energy everywhere. The two boys looked up again and stared wide eyed at the new warrior.

He had the traditional white pants and Fusion Jacket, red with blue trim. They couldn't see his face but it was so blended he looked exactly like both Goku and Gohan at the same time. His eyes were black, and so was his hair though it stood up like Goku's did in Super. A fiece blue aura raged about him, and around it golden energy crackled. "It's backwards..." Trunks said. "His aura's backwards?"

Goten shook his head. "It's almost like Gohan's was when he fought Buu."

"Oh! I get it!" Trunks cried. "The Fusion nullified the effects of whatever was nullifying Gohan's unlocked powers!"

Goten looked over at his friend. "Huh? That doesn't make any sense Trunks."

"Yes it... Oh, just don't worry about it Goten! All that matters is that he's unstoppable!"

Up in the sky Morana glared down at Gokan, the Fusion merely crossing his arms. After a moment he finally spoke, his double voice echoing across the battlefield. "This ends now Morana." he said simply, an edge to his voice. "In the name of everyone you've killed! For Jean, for Piccolo, for Videl, I will destroy you!"

"I will never die, but you will! Right now!" she cried bringing her arms down. The large orb of dakrness plunged down toward Gokan but the fusion remained motionless. The darkness pushed aside the clouds as it neared Gokan and still the Fusion did not move. A second before it hit him Gokan reached out a hand and caught the attack. With no effort at all he moved his arm to the side and pushed the attack off into space.

"And now it's my turn." Gokan said before vanishing. He reappeared a second later only a foot away from Morana, his right arm pointing toward her. Blue energy sparkled through the air and gathered in front of his palm. It only took a few seconds for the energy to gather into a small orb no larger than a baseball. "Spirit Flash." he said, the edge still in his voice. The orb of energy swelled and then a bright flash of white made everyone look away. Morana's screams filled the air as she tried to hold off the energy. But they lasted only a moment and then all was quiet and the light faded. 


	16. Epilogue

Epilogue

Tien, Shin, Krillin, and Vegeta landed on the lookout to find Yamcha and the Mutants waiting for them. "So... now what?" Rogue asked looking down at the world far below them.

"For now there is nothing more that we can do." Shin replied. "In a few months time the Dragonballs of Planet Namek shall be restored. Then we can reverse this damage, revive your friend, and send you all home. Until then... we merely wait."

"Can... can she really be revived?" Rogue asked.

"Ya, don't worry." Yamcha said. "She'll be alive again before you know it!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gokan landed in the crater that had once been a large city and looked about at the devastation. Turning, he looked behind him as Magneto landed unsteadily to the ground. "So then, it's finally over." the Mutant said gazing at the destruction as well. "S.H.E.I.L.D. has been destroyed by it's own creation."

The Fusion nodded as a loud roar filled the air. He, Goten, Trunks, Magneto, Hogan, and Kurt all turned to look as the Blackbird descended and landed not too far away. A moment later Charles emerged along with a few Mutants including Collosus and Siren. "Eric." Charles said as he moved toward the group.

"Charles."

"This is quite the mess." the telepath said. "And it will take much work to begin mending from this."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Gokan said gazing off into the distance. "Wait here." With that he lifted into the air and took off faster than they could see. A moment later a spark of blue marked his return, at a slower pace than his departure. It was soon obvious why he was moving slower, he was holding a news chopper over his head. A moment later he landed and set the chopper down, the occupants climbing out slowly and looking around nervously. Gokan turned and looked over to the others again. 

"These guys were filming." he said. "They were doing some traffic stuff before Morana blew up the city. They got the entire battle on film, live across the world!" The three Humans from the chopper were still gazing at the devastation and at the assortment of people before them. Suddenly Hogan began to glow and then he split apart into Hank and Wolverine once more.

The reporter blinked as he saw this but shook it off and then spoke, the cameraman beside him turning from the damage to film the Muntants and Z Fighters. "Um... we heard the other man's speech... Piccolo I think was his name. Could... Could you tell us what he meant about you being from another world?"

"Well... we're from a different universe all together." Gokan said scratching the back of his head.

"We should find Jean's body. And those of your friends too." Logan said after a moment of silence. "They deserve a propper burial."

Gokan grinned. "Oh, don't worry about that too much! Once we get home we'll have the Eternal Dragon revive the three of them. And he might even be able to do something about the others that died and about the city too."

"How is that possible?" Magneto asked.

"Shenron can do a lot of things. Same with Porunga. Our world was nothing but dust about a month ago. Porunga restored the planet and revived everyone! I don't know if his powers can reach through to this universe though... but we can at least try." For the next three hours the news crew interviewed the Mutants and Z Fighters, and filmed them talking with each other. The entire thing broadcast live around the world.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"So, what's this big news Bulma?" Vegeta asked walking into her lab with Hercule, Chi-Chi, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, 18, and the Mutants behind him. It had been two months since the Mutants had arrived in their universe, and it would be another month before Porunga was back again. But a few hours ago Bulma had sent Vegeta out to the Son home to retrieve the Mutants without a word as to why.

"Well, I was going over the bits and pieces of the transporter. The extra one I mean, from their universe. And I went over the data in my computer too, reading all the looping and feedback information. And I built this." she turned and pointed to a device standing in the middle of the lab. It looked like some kind of metal archway.

"And what exactly is it?" Chi-Chi asked.

"A dimensional portal generator." she said proudly. "I've run several hundred tests on it in the last two days and it's now fully calibrated and operational. I used the data in the computer to coordinate the destination point. Oh, and I built a second one over there." she pointed over to another leaning against a wall. "This thing can only maintain a stable portal in open space for about 2 seconds. But once that generator is on the otherside... Well, I can keep the portal open indefinitely!"

"Wait..." Storm said. "You mean... this thing can get us home? Today?"

Bulma nodded. "Sure can! And we can get the others home too!" 18 reached out an arm and caught Chi-Chi as she fainted. Shaking her head Bulma continued. "Anyway. I'll need your help first Vegeta."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that gateway weighs about 800 pounds, neither I or the Mutants can carry it. And it can't be capsulized, it'd explode. Plus, none of us are fast enough to pass through the portal before it closes. I need you to take it through to the other universe, track down Goku and the others, and set that up on their end. The code to turn it on is our aniversary, so just punch that in and we'll have a stable path between there and here!"

"Hmmmm. All right, I'll do it."

"Really? Great!" Bulma turned around and punched in a bunch of numbers real quick. "Alright, the next number will activate the portal. Go get the other generator."

Vegeta moved across the room and hefted the other device up onto his back. Moving back over he noted that it was a bit smaller than the one Bulma was using, she'd probably done that so it'd fit through. "Alright, ready when you are."

Bulma nodded. "Here we go!" she pushed the button and the space between the archway rippled and a desolated landscape appeared. Vegeta didn't have time to think about that and sped through the portal which closed behind him a moment later.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ooof!" Vegeta cried falling face first into the dirt, the heavy generator laying on his back. "Ugh, my power's gone! Damn, I should have guessed that'd happen." he growled as he quickly ascended to the second level. "Man, I'm even weaker here than in those blasted supression fields." he mumbled as he climbed to his feet. As he stood he looked around. "What happened here? Well, I'll just ask Kakkarotto and the others when I find them."

He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. It took him a few minutes to scan the planet and then he growled. "I can't feel anything with any real power anywhere! This had better be the right universe woman!" With a grunt he picked up the generator and lifted into the air. He sensed out the closest group of powers and flew off in that direction. As he flew he gazed at the damage. It looked like a battle had gone on, a really big one. "Well, at least they didn't get to have a vacation while we fought Bastion." he said smirking.

It took him an hour to reach the powers he'd felt. It was a small town and he floated down to land in the city, the people all giving him looks. As he touched down on the sidewalk he set the generator beside him and leaned against it to catch his breath. "How the hell am I supposed to find them around here anyway?" Suddenly he heard a voice he recognized and turned to look in the store window beside him. 

There were TVs on display and on the screen was Gohan and some old bald guy he didn't know and they were talking to a reporter. Behind them he saw others he didn't recognize as well as Goku, Goten, and Trunks. Down in the bottom left corner was the word 'Live'. Vegeta grinned.

He turned to a nearby person, who was still gawking at him. "Where's this at?" he asked.

"Uh... that... that's coming from down in D.C."

"D.C.? Where the hell is D.C.?"

The guy just flapped his mouth trying to come up with an aswer. Vegeta sighed. "Alright, how would I get in touch with one of those people?" he thumbed at the screen.

"Er, well. I wouldn't know." the guy said.

"I would." came a voice from above him. Vegeta looked up as a man in red and with a purple cape landed. Magneto still wore his same outfit but his helmet was not on. He floated down and landed. "Whether I tell you depends on who you are and why you want to speak with them."

"You must be another Mutant." Vegeta said looking him over. "I thought it was dangerous for you guys to be out on the streets like this?" Vegeta shook his head. "No matter. I'm looking for them so I can get them home."

"Get them home?" Magneto asked. Suddenly he grinned. "Would you be Vegeta by chance?"

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I would."

"Thought you looked familair. The hair and eye color threw me off. Your son was showing everyone your picture for days. Come on, I'll lead you down to D.C." Magneto reached out a hand and the large generator lifted into the air. Vegeta raised the other eyebrow at that but lifted up as well and followed the Mutant.

"So, what exactly is this thing? And how did you get here? Your friends said it would be a month yet before Porunga could get them home."

"Yes. But my mate is probably the smartest person in any universe. That is their ticket home. I came through a similar one. Once we have it set up we can link between this world and mine."

Magneto nodded and they flew the rest of the way in silence. It took almost two hours for them to reach the city that Vegeta assumed had to be D.C. as the Mutant began to descend. They landed outside a large building and Magneto used his powers to open the doors so they could enter. Vegeta gazed around at the numerous security guards that filled the lobby. Almost instantly several of them moved in. "Magneto... I thought you were overseeing the dismanteling of the Sentinel Factory up in Pennsylvania?" a large blue furred man said as he pushed through the guards.

"I was, but then this man showed up. He's from the other universe, and he has a way to get everyone home again."

Hank looked over to Vegeta and then turned. "Come, follow me." he said. Vegeta followed behind him with Magneto taking up the rear. "We owe your friends a lot." Hank said after a moment. "They probably saved this world from complete destruction. Not to mention brought about peace talks. The Humans may still be afraid of us but they're now far more afraid of what they might become themselves if they give in to their hate."

As they moved through the halls Vegeta noticed several pictures along the walls, all professionally done. They depcited Goku and the others, as well as several other people. He had a chance to note the names on the plaques beneath several of them. One was of Goku and 'the President' and another that was of a large group of people. A moment later they passed through another doorway and into a large room full of lights, cameras, and people.

"D... Dad!" Trunks cried as he walked in, interrupting the press conference. He ran over quickly and jumped up into Vegeta's chest.

"Hey squirt."

"Vegeta!" Goku cheered waving. "Hey, how'd you get here?"

"Bulma's got a new invention. One that works this time. I'm here to take you guys home, and to bring the other Mutants back too."

"Ya! Alright Bulma!" Gohan cried happily.

Magneto moved the generator over onto the stage and set it down. Vegeta moved to the key pad and punched in the activation code. The space within the archway shimmered and Bulma's lab came into view, the others still sitting around in wait. "Professor!" Storm cried as she spied him and then the large room. She and the others passed through to murmmurs and whispers. "What's going on?" she asked gazing around the room.

Xavier turned to look out at the crowd of people. "Peace." he said simply.

-

The generator was later moved to the basement of the building, which was now the new Mutant Human Relations Offices, headed by Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr. During the month between Vegeta's arrival and the restoration of the Namekian Dragonballs the generator was used several times and Gohan continued to aid Xavier and the Mutants in their efforts for peace. And then the day came, the Dragonballs of Namek were restored. Using his Instant Transmission, Goku took the large group (Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Vegeta, Hercule, 18, Krillin, Yamcha, Dende, Siren, Xavier, Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Scott, Hank, Kurt, and Magneto) to New Namek.

"So, we can use the Dragonballs then?" Dende asked.

Moray nodded. "Yes."

"Ah, thanks!" Goku cheered as the Nameks brought the balls out. A moment later the skies darkened as Dende summoned Porunga once more.

"Why have you summoned me to this plain? You have three wishes, speak them now and it shall be so." Porunga boomed from high above them.

"Oh man... he's... huge!" Kurt cried.

"Ya, he's a sight all right." Gohan replied. "You have the wishes Dende?"

The Namek nodded. "Porunga! We wish you to restore the city of Manhattan that was destroyed by Morana in the universe the X-Men are from!"

Porunga growled, it's eyes glowing fiercely. "You keep asking... for the difficult." he rumbled. "But it has been done." the glow in his eyes faded away once more.

Dende nodded. "Alright, now revive all the good people killed by Morana!"

Porunga's eyes began to glow again. "There, they have been revived."

"Woohoo!" Goku cheered. "One more wish!"

"Right." Dende said. "The last wish is to revive all those killed by Bastion!"

Porunga's eyes narrowed a bit. "This... cannot be done."

"Wha... why not?" Rouge yelled up.

"Those killed by Bastion span two dimensions. I can not effect both with one wish."

"Well..." Goku began scratching his head. "We're mainly trying to revive Kitty and those killed in West City, right?"

"Yes." Charles said. "The people of your world should not have to pay for our world's mistakes."

Dende nodded. "Okay. Porunga, revive those from this universe then!"

"It shall be done."

-

And so the damage was undone. Most of those killed by the dimensional shifts were all revived. The city of Manhattan was, to the shock of it's people, restored to pristine condition. Not everything was as it had been however. The portal between dimensions remained open. Gohan and Piccolo often spent months in the other universe helping to promote peace and to capture both Mutant and Human alike that continued to resist. And life... moved on. 


End file.
